Yesterday, I indulged myself in yet another time-sucking session on
Facebook to catch up on all the amusing clips that my friends have posted. I
know, I’m an idiot, but this to me is what early retirement is all about. I am
always looking for amusing stuff to share on my page, and there is no shortage
of amazing video footage and audio clips that people put up. The other day I
watched a clip of a man with no arms
playing blues guitar with his feet, better than I ever could. My favorite clip
from the past week was a tongue in cheek YouTube spoof of the popular song “Say
Something” by A Great Big World (Alex Preston), sung really well (but with
altered lyrics) by a disgruntled Toronto Maple Leafs fan. I think “I’m giving
up on you” is the key phrase here, and you can fill in the blanks. The
Leafs did finally win a game Saturday night, after breaking their own record
for most games lost in a row (10 or 11) … a record not challenged since 1967.
Hey, they’re only about 13 points out of a playoff spot, so I still hold on to my tiny morsel of hope. They
are not done yet; soon, but not yet.
I attended the Kearney Dogsled races on Saturday, primarily to hear my
song writing pals Doug McLean and Jeff Stamp perform some of their original songs at the Kearney
Community Center. While the races themselves are of little interest to me -
I fear that sometimes the animals are not particularly well cared for - I have
attended for the past three years. For me, the race marks one of the temporal stepping
stones to Spring. First there is the “holiday season”, followed by the Burk’s
Falls Winter Carnival, then of course there is Groundhog Abuse Day, and not long after,
the Kearney Dogsled Races, followed by the Katrine Winter Carnival, and various
and sundry winter-related equipment malfunctions. Before you know it, you’re at
the end of April clawing the walls with your family and re-enacting the final
hour of The Shining.
Following a Supreme Court ruling, assisted suicide may soon be legal in
Canada, and I think that is a remarkable development. Euthanasia pioneer Dr. “Death”
Jack Kevorkian is probably smiling in heaven. Let me weigh in on this decision
from the perspective of a son and son-in-law who has now experienced the demise
of three of his four parents. I was confronted with this issue twice, once
directly, when my mom was in the end stages of Lewy Body Disease, and a second
time, indirectly, when Shauna’s dad slowly slipped away after a crippling
stroke. His stroke was on the right side of his brain, and he was left unable
to swallow. His decline was slow and emotionally confusing for the entire
family; probably not what he would have wanted. In both
cases our decision was not to assist the demise of the patient, if only because
there was no clear directive from the sufferer. As I believe the Supreme Court
ruling suggests, this should not be a right denied the individual, and in some
specific cases, it will clearly be the right thing to do. Of course, some in the medical community will fight this, and I understand their concerns that this “right”
will be abused. Clearly this is a contentious issue. I ask: what about the
rights and dignity of the terminally ill patient? Just as I don’t think
religious leaders or politicians should have any say in whether or not a woman chooses to have a baby, I do not
think these leaders should have the right to dictate end of life decisions. Listen
carefully to the anecdotal evidence from some of the terminally ill, and perhaps
you too will be inclined to offer them some control over their ends. Indeed it
is a complicated issue, and it will inevitably lead to legal debates about the
legality of certain health care proxies, but I applaud Canada for this brave
ruling. Now let’s see if it holds up.
Final notes. My apologies to all of you who are on Facebook, or my email
list, and who received multiple requests to listen to my HBR “Live Drive”
performance with Juan Barbosa. Shauna and I may have been a little carried away with this.
It was my first live on-air performance with a professional musician, and I
was so happy that Hunter’s Bay Radio recorded and posted it. I was proud of myself for doing this scary thing, and I wanted to brag a little. So my ego is swelling. I wish I could say the same for my popularity!
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2015 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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