Teresa, I really identify with your situation. I suffer from a severe mental illness. My illness has only stabilised by me taking so much medication that I need to sleep at least 16 hours a day. Coupled with the memory loss and migraines I periodically consider just dumping all my meds. In my case, I know life with the meds is better than life without, so I never up doing it. But I dream of a new world with medication without side effects. Side effects SUCK.
SUCK SUCK SUCK!
I hope the new neurologist can help you.
I just realised that what I said above could also be mis-interpreted:
"But that is very different from having no brain activity. Being disabled doesn't stop any person from having value and worth."
I apologise, I shouldn't have put those sentences side-by-side, it makes it sound like I'm saying Terry Schiavo had no worth. What I mean is, every person has worth and value, whether disabled or no.
But, as Graydon and RiceVermicelli have said much more eloquently than me, disabled is different than having no cerebral cortex, and if a person would not wish to be kept alive under such circumstances, no matter how difficult it is I think their wishes are important to honour.
Mary - I agree with you. I think my comment was not written clearly enough. I am disabled, and I was responding to the discussion about people who take disabled to mean that a more able-bodied person is better qualified to make judgements about there life.
I have encountered many people like this myself and find it very frustrating. The discussion further up had been talking about this kind of presumption that does exist.
Many people are more severely disabled than me, although I do require a full-time carer (many thanks to my Mum). And Kizmet, I do not think your sister is a similar case to Schiavo. Your sister is not brain-dead. I am in the same position as your sister, although her problems are much more severe than mine. I rely on social security. I cannot work or support myself. I rely on my Mum and Dad to take care of me, even though I am thirty. I am impaired. So is your sister. But that is very different from having no brain activity. Being disabled doesn't stop any person from having value and worth.
Jon H - I've been thinking about that too. I don't understand why they can't give someone in Terri's position a more humane release. If the decision has been made, why starve her to death so slowly?
I find the name right-to-life ironic. If you have the right to life, surely you should have the right to decide what to do with that life.
And I want to chime in: Having no cerebral cortex is NOT the same as being disabled. And being disabled does NOT mean that you are unable to decide for yourself and must rely on 'healthy' people to do your thinking for you. Aargh. I have had time to calm down and will not start cussing.
In the past few years, I have re-evaluated my personal definition of love. I believe that love and desire are very different things, and that people often get the two confused. True love, real love, is selflessness, is concern about your loved one's happiness, and most importantly is, when need be, putting your loved one first, no matter how difficult that can be. Desire is about your own happiness. It is often selfish, and your personal feelings come before that of your 'loved one'.
I became seriously ill four years ago. I am still recovering and am often house-bound. When I became ill, the person I loved, and thought loved me, couldn't handle the situation and abandoned me. We are no longer in contact.
This is what led to my re-evaluation, and I truly believe that when your loved one's world falls apart, whether through illness or otherwise, that if you truly love them you will put them first even if it causes you pain.
I'm not saying it is easy, love never is. But it is different than desire, which is what I believe leads to crimes of passion, and domestic violence, which the perpetrator always seems to commit in the name of 'love'.
Xopher - so do you boost people up by giving them booster shots?
sign me up!!!
Xopher: How about self-deprecating? Or, if you want something stronger, self-loathing.
I suffer from chronic self-loathing (my doctor refers to it as severe depressive illness). I tend to think of it as having a treacherous mind.
John Ford - I wonder what the blowout would be if they made Simon Cowell a judge of Pope Idol:
"That was absolutely disgraceful. You call that a sermon? I've never heard such a pile of apocryphal rubbish in my life."
bugger bugger bugger. Now my moral dilemma is: do I tell her? I really don't want her scammed, but I know that the truth would break her heart.
I used to be an astronomer. We'd get calls at the observatory about naming stars after people. And I would patiently explain that the company offering to name a star after their girlfriend/boyfriend/deceased loved-one for $50 were scammers. They'd send the victim a certificate and a catalogue listing their star with its position and name. And then I get the call from the lady who has bought a star for her baby who died one week old. She wanted me to send her a star chart and tell her about the star. Which I did. I couldn't tell her the truth.
I don't like hatred, but on that day I came very close when thinking about that company.
Hey everyone. I have a question about a possible publishing scam. My cousin writes poetry, some of which is published in Canada (although I don't know where). She has been contacted by Noble House, who want to publish one of her poems in a volume of poetry to be published worldwide. They aren't asking for any money, nor are they offering any. But if she wants a copy of the book when it's published, she will have to pay $45.
Is this a scam? I know money is always supposed to flow towards the author so I'm worried, but it doesn't sound as bad as the definite scams. She isn't required to pay anything to have the poem published. Just if she wants a personal copy.
I have a few recommendations for Her Majesty (living in England I did a double-take when I first read your email :) that I haven't seen mentioned here:
Philip Pullman has some wonderful books for younger readers (His Dark Materials is fantastic, but it may be better when she's a bit older). I highly recommend:
Count Karlstein
The Scarecrow and His Servant (just out)
I was surprised not to see any mention of the Charlie Bone books by Jenny Nimmo. The title of the series is The Children of the Red King. Three books in the series have been published so far (5 are planned):
Midnight for Charlie Bone
The Time Twister
The Blue Boa
The titles are slightly different in America though:
Midnight for Charlie Bone
Charlie Bone and the Time Twister
Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy
I kept away from Charlie Bone for a long time. They were plugged as 'if you like Harry Potter you'll love Charlie Bone' and the description on the back of the first book made it sound too derivative of Harry Potter.
However, they are fantastic. Same genre as Harry P., but very different. Clever, imaginative, and I found impossible to put down. I especially love the idea of the Pets Cafe where you're only allowed in if you bring your pet with you.
Mayakda - ta, I was looking later on for the quote but was convinced it came from Elinor. I loved Inkheart too - It's a wonderful book for bibliophiles :)
Yoon - I have a similar history and have just made it a year without incident :)
Congratulations on getting rid of the penknives (even though you mourn them now), it's a great step to make.
Mayakda - about Inkheart: do you remember where the quote about book-burning is? I wanted to go back and see how closely it matches what I wrote (if it is word-for-word or acceptably different), but I can't find it. I'll keep looking, but if you remember please let me know :)
Graydon, Mris - Thanks, I'm feeling better about it now. I think I'm just going to write the story as it needs to be written (it's almost finished). If at the end, the line still needs to be there, I will reference it somehow.
My heart sinks. As Mayakda pointed out above, the line I wrote in my short story comes from the book Inkheart. Which I did read (+ loved). I honestly thought when I wrote the line in my short story that it was original, but Inkheart must have lodged itself in my subconcious.
What do I do? Change the line in my story, except it is one of the main turning/focus points.
Does this happen to writers often? I am writing my first book. Since I started I've been reading as much as possible to get a feel for what works and what doesn't, and what is already out there. (As well as hanging out at places like Making Light to learn how the publishing world works).
My friend Peet, who wrote a lot, rarely ever read books because he wanted his work to be completely original.
I feel quite sick about it. Does this happen to writers often? Or is my poor memory just biting me in the ass?
conundrum:
I've written a short story about book-burning. One of my lines reads:
"If they're burning books now, they'll be burning people next."
I hadn't heard of Heinrich Heine until this open thread.
What do writers do when they encounter something like this?
Randall P. - More slang for you:
If something did my friend's head in (for example a pernicious academic colleague, or the general state of the world) he'd call it a head-fuck.
Reminds me of Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett. Angua and Carrot are in a dwarf bar. The menu says (among other things):
Rat and Ketchup 7p
Rat 4p
Angua asks why the ketchup costs as much as the rat. Carrot replies:
'Have you tried rat without ketchup?'
I have my home page set to Nasa's Astronomy Picture of the Day. Each day when I log on I get a new beautiful astronomy picture to ogle.
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