Sunday, May 6, 2007
Monster wedge
Fascinating video from two insane chasers.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Collateral damage speaking
My brother-in-law killed himself Tuesday afternoon.
He did it in his van, in a small plaza parking lot.
He took some pills, and then lit a small, home made BBQ on the floor in the back.
Soon after, he went for the Big Sleep.
Someone must have called 911, because he ended up in the hospital, where they worked on him for over an hour.
His obit says he died suddenly, peacefully.
I wouldn’t call it peaceful.
Suicide is violent.
“He did it, didn’t he?”, my sister-in-law said when she saw the cops at her door.
They say successful suiciders try 8 to 25 times, on average. 70% of them are white males, most older. Since he matches the last two stats, I shudder to think of the other times he tried. I knew of only one other, last April.
Did you know it’s illegal to attempt suicide?
Images flash in my mind of him holding and hugging my children. Fresh ones.
Sounds of his voice thanking me profusely for helping him with his new job at my company echo eerily in my head. Haunting ones.
Wondering why anyone would go to the dentist (who scared the hell out of him) in the morning, only to polish himself off in the afternoon.
Wondering what the hell he was thinking when he decided to head out to the plaza. Wondering what his last thought was.
Wondering if he thought about any of the good things in his life. His wife, his daughter, my family, his new job, his expensive condo, his rags to riches story.
Wondering if we would have become better friends if he continued working at our company.
Wondering if we know anything about what bubbles beneath the surface of our closest family and friends. I doubt it.
I told others of his suicide. Both had their own tales of self-killers they knew. From this week.
We don’t read their “died suddenly” stories anywhere. Are we so ashamed or embarrassed? Why?
The first family dinner a couple of days later was funny. His name barely came up at all. Would it have been wrong to stand up and scream “What the hell is wrong with you people? Aren’t we going to talk about him at all?” I guess no one wanted to crack the ice, before it thickened and entombed his now finished life.
All those birthday parties he’s going to miss. All those Saturday morning coffee and donut visits he won’t be at. All those current event conversations we won’t have. All the lottery pools he won’t be in. All the holes in our lives he’s left.
Soon, anger and guilt will subside into sadness, compassion, and forgiveness. Final letters found will hardly answer the endless questions that we’d all like to drill him with. The what-ifs, the what-could-I-have-dones, the why-didn’t-he-want-helps will all vanish.
All that’s left is to pick up the pieces and carry on.
Because a bomb went off.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Up to the Sky
Saturday, September 3, 2005
He’s listening
It may be slow in coming, but it appears the President is responding with more troops.
Good morning. Yesterday I saw the aftermath of one of the largest natural disasters ever to strike America. A vast coastline of towns and communities are flattened; one of our great cities is submerged. The human costs are incalculable.
GWB does best when he mainstreets with normal folk. It’s unbelievable to me that so many think HE doesn’t care. It’s more that the federal agencies that are supposed to deal with this kind of thing let us down again. To equate Bush with the vast federal agency bureaucracy is ludicrous.
Friday, September 2, 2005
What are you waiting for?
There really is no excuse not to donate to the poorest of the poor in America - since it appears that the incompetence of the government is not letting them get even food and water.
Click here and give - and you’ll even get a tax receipt.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Let her go
I’ve resisted typing about the Shiavo case (why can’t anyone pronounce her name correctly?)
I have to agree with Bill O’Reilly, tho, and that is, it’s time for the husband to let her go back into her parents’ care. If what he says is true about her wishes, we can only say he is devoted and caring on the surface. On the other hand, he should let her parents err on the side of life.
I don’t believe she’s actually “in there”, but why punish her parents who believe she is? They bore the child, and she is their blood, so let them take over.
This case should have never escalated to where it is today. It’s amazing how far people can take a fight with the in-laws.
Despite two setbacks in the same federal appeals court yesterday, the parents of Terri Schiavo clung to hope last night after Governor Jeb Bush suggested Florida’s Adult Protective Services would attempt to take custody of the severely brain-damaged woman.
Monday, March 7, 2005
Lambs to slaughter
Even without all the facts, it’s becoming clearer that the young RCMP officers slaughtered last week went in totally unprepared.
The RCMP is fending off suggestions that four of its members who were killed during an investigation of a marijuana grow operation on an Albertan farm were not properly equipped for the situation.
If inquiries into this tragedy don’t result in someone in the chain of command fired, then they will have been a waste of time.
Friday, December 31, 2004
I gave
I have to say that overall, Canada’s and the world’s generosity has been fairly amazing to the earthquake victims. I just gave what I could to the Red Cross - it sure was easy and fast.
Many of my Tamil co-workers are collecting their own money. Apparently they don’t trust anyone to help them, as they are of course at war with the Sri Lankan government. I am more leary giving them money directly, but they may have a point.
Here’s a neat link describing a wireless project to rebuild communications networks. Obviously wireless can be rebuild far more quickly than the old ways.
BoingBoing pal Mike Outmesguine gives us an update on the blog-driven project to provide free wireless communication services to areas cut off by the disaster:
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Caged boys fund
A worthy cause if you ask me.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Mattie Stepanek dies
One of the most inspirational and positive little bundles of joy I have seen on TV died today.
Mattie Stepanek, the child poet whose inspirational verse made him a best-selling writer and a prominent voice for muscular dystrophy sufferers, died Tuesday of a rare form of the disease. He was 13.
Anyone who saw him on Larry King Live on Sep 2, 2002, will know what I mean.
He has a famous book, Heartsongs & Journey Through Heartsongs ($US orders), and a website.
You can also hear him read a poem.
The world is a poorer place today.
Click More to read the transcript of the show....I particularly liked his poem I am.
Send an email to his family.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Reverse lottery
Gotta feel sorry for this guy.
Police are looking for a transport truck and its driver after a piece of equipment flew off the truck, smashed through the windshield of a car on Highway 401 and left a 59-year-old Mississauga man near death.
Friday, April 23, 2004
Bureaucracy kills one
It’s hard not to blame the paperpushers in this case.
Police in Montreal are investigating the death of a man who died after being turned away at a clinic because he didn’t have his healt
A family’s tragedy
Anytime an innocent person, especially a mother, is injured like this, it’s a tragedy. There’s a bank account in the story to donate to. I’ve included this story on my forum tragedy page, so you can view and discuss.
A North York mother of three, the primary caregiver for her disabled daughter, will probably never walk again after she was shot at a Downsview takeout restaurant.
Monday, April 19, 2004
Doesn’t get much worse
Tragedies don’t get much worse than this.
Atara Sasoon became a mother and a widow within a matter of seconds.
Count your blessings before you complain today.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Iron-ic Death
It’s always ironic that a healthy individual, involved in the health food field, dies prematurely.
One-time local running sensation Brian Maxwell, co-founder of the multimillion-dollar PowerBar empire, has died of a heart attack at just 51 years old.
Sad on a number of fronts. Died young. Died at a point where he may just have been starting to enjoy his fabulous wealth (yea! another Canadian success story - $375 million USD!) Died of the #1 disease in North America - heart. You would be forgiven if you thought, by all the hype, that AIDS was the #1 killer - sorry, they’ve just got the biggest lobby dominating the media.
Reminds us to enjoy every minute that we’re here - as we are all living on borrowed time.