Day: February 7, 2012

RANT: Mum loss could have been prevented if onlookers had …

Published on by reinkefj1 Comment

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/australian-mom-killed-by-flood-after-dozens-whip-out-smartphones-instead-of-helping/

Technology
Australian Mom Killed By Flood After ‘Dozens’ Whip Out Smartphones Instead of Helping
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:55am by Liz Klimas

*** begin quote ***

But, as if this damage weren’t devastating enough, the only fatality reported thus far could potentially have been prevented if onlookers had put down their smartphones to lend a helping hand. A mother from the town of Roma and her 7-year-old son were trapped on Friday as the strong current began pulling them apart. Australia’s Courier-Mail reports that some men rushed in to help Jane Sheahan as she passed her son, Darcy, to them. But it was too late for Sheahan to be pulled from the water herself.

*** end quote ***

Wasn’t there. Don’t know the whole story. Can’t condemn folks for not risking their life.

Only hope that if I get such and opportunity, I won’t look the other way.

Sigh!

Save a life!

Isn’t that on everyone’s bucket list?

It is on mine. Right above “deliver a baby”.

(Strangely women are very uncooperative. They seem to insist on a real doctor. I’ll have to find with no other choice. Like that lady on the NYC bound commuter train; she wasn’t that “ripe”. And, a near miss when I was on the first aid squad. No luck!)

Back to the topic, it’s like that poem —

Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.                This story shall the good man teach his son;                And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,                From this day to the ending of the world,                But we in it shall be remembered-                We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;                For he to-day that sheds his blood with me                Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,                This day shall gentle his condition;                And gentlemen in England now-a-bed                Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,                And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks                That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

— will these “men”, these onlookers with smart phones, think themselves “accurs’d”. “Holding their manhood cheap”.

Shame.

Where are the heroes?

Yes, there were some that day. Saved a child. But, perhaps extra hands or an earlier response would have saved Mum too.

Ashamed to be a man by such a poor performance by other of my sex.

Argh!

# – # – # – # – #

INTERESTING: Before someone dies, what can you do?

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/28/my-faith-what-people-talk-about-before-they-die/

January 28th, 2012 11:00 PM ET
My Faith: What people talk about before they die

Editor’s Note: Kerry Egan is a hospice chaplain in Massachusetts and the author of “Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago.”

By Kerry Egan, Special to CNN

*** begin quote ***

As a divinity school student, I had just started working as a student chaplain at a cancer hospital when my professor asked me about my work.  I was 26 years old and still learning what a chaplain did.

“I talk to the patients,” I told him.

“You talk to patients?  And tell me, what do people who are sick and dying talk to the student chaplain about?” he asked.

I had never considered the question before.  “Well,” I responded slowly, “Mostly we talk about their families.”

“Do you talk about God?

“Umm, not usually.”

“Or their religion?”

“Not so much.”

“The meaning of their lives?”

“Sometimes.”

“And prayer?  Do you lead them in prayer?  Or ritual?”

“Well,” I hesitated.  “Sometimes.  But not usually, not really.”

I felt derision creeping into the professor’s voice.  “So you just visit people and talk about their families?”

“Well, they talk.  I mostly listen.”

*** end quote ***

That’s a great gift to just listen.

I’m not sure that this “student chaplain” hasn’t hit on the essence of attending a dying person. I’ve only been in this situation a few times and the essence of all that you can do for someone who’s dying is to just listen.

Argh!

# – # – # – # – #