I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
KingMidget's Ramblings
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In The News Today
Posted by on October 5, 2015
The Good
California’s Governor signed legislation that allows the terminally ill in California to obtain medication to allow them to control the timing of their own death. In signing the legislation, he issued a statement that included the following:
I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill. And I wouldn’t deny that right to others.
It is that final sentence that puts this in the proper context. If our life means anything at all, if freedom means anything at all, if we are entitled to control the direction and dignity of our own lives at all, allowing us to choose the manner and timing of the end of our life is a right above just about any other. It always amazes me how the party that claims to be for freedom and individual rights takes positions contrary to those principles on issues like this.
The Bad
The Indifferent.
I am not indifferent to the horrors of mass shootings in America. I am not indifferent to the need for something to minimize these events. I believe there are many things that need to be done to address this scourge. Potentially even more important than the proliferation of guns in our country is our utter failure to address the serious and growing mental health crisis in this country. On so many levels.
What I am indifferent to is the idea that this county is capable at all of identifying and implementing a solution, any solution, to the problem. We simply shout past each other, rage at windmills, and never, ever sit down and agree to engage in a real search for solutions that might actually work. It’s all noise pollution while innocent people continue to suffer with their demons and other innocent people die unnecessary and horrible deaths.
KingMidget's Ramblings 
Oh that bad is so, so bad. Makes me cringe. And hear hear to your last paragraph. Spot on.
By the way, I read your short story on your other blog on my phone last night. I meant to comment on it this morning, but by then it was so far gone in my reader, I couldn’t find it. Just wanted to let you know I enjoyed it. Loved how it ended. It’s certainly a great set-up for an intriguing plot.
Yes, that Knoxville thing is so monumentally outrageous. It’s a perfect example of what is so wrong in this country these days. That somebody would consider it appropriate for a local government to approve, or even consider, a resolution drafted with that language is just stunning to me.
As for the short story … thank you! I’m trying to write a story with a couple of somewhat offbeat characters, which is not my comfort zone. So, it’s a challenge that is both enjoyable and frightening at the same time. I don’t want to overdo the offbeat, but … yes, I actually do. There is definitely more story to be told. I’m up to over 2,000 words on it so far, but I wanted to post a snippet.
I think openings that can lead to many different scenarios are the most intriguing, just as that one can.
So, you know the question for you now is … based on what you know so far, should he marry her?
Well, it will certainly make for some great conflict if he does!
We’ll see what happens. I know I’m not sure yet. Still many options.
My wife was just saying the other day that if nothing in America changed after all those children in Sandy Hook were killed than probably nothing will change.
P.S. Where is your other blog? Can you put a link to it? I would like to read your short stories. Thanks.
Yes. Sandy Hook should have done something. That it didn’t speaks volumes. My fiction blog is at markpaxson.com.
Thanks
Agreed. It’s all noise pollution. I was listening to a story this morning where they talked about presidential candidates now having a platform about guns in this country, but it would all just be talk and probably nothing they would be able to implement. Then, I think heard that there were 22 or 33 gun-related items regarding background checks, etc. put forth by Obama but nothing got through Congress. The whole thing sickens me. You say it well here…innocent people are suffering. Mental health needs more money, definitely.
I don’t know why, but your other blog is not sending me emails like it used to. I’ll have to check out that problem.
You would think that after defining most every shooter as mentally deranged, there would be some (at least a little) effort put into mental healthcare. Back in the eighties, psych care was awesome and mental health workers were freely encouraged to put therapeutic programs in place…any and all were admitted for as long as it took to get them on track and stabilized, then the “medical model” took over (pills for everybody)…the insurance companies took control (no more than 4-14 days for anybody’s treatment)…and they are now cutting that. I used to work admissions for a facility (2011) and after the two hour interviews, it took another two hours to process through a clients insurance company to even get their first twenty-four hours approved. (meanwhile…12-20 more clients waited in the wings). Often the patient was discharged the next day with a script and appointment for OP services. NOBODY had time to get stabilized. What a joke. They were frequently back within a week to start the whole process over again.
Wonder my other blog isn’t showing up in your emails. Does it show up in your WP Reader?
You describe perfectly one of the foundational problems.
I never check my reader…ever. If I don’t get the email subscription, I’m clueless. Most of my friends blogs show up in email, but every once in a while somebody’s gets booted out. Not the first time it’s happened.
Hmmm….
I’m with you on the Jerry Brown signing. It’s a true comfort to know that we Californians now have control over the end of life scenario, which includes, of course, the right to change our minds at any time.
There was a powerful documentary a couple of years ago called “How To Die in Oregon,” which put all of this in perspective very movingly. http://www.howtodieinoregon.com/index.html I don’t see how any politician can stand in the way of what seems like a fundamental human right.
As for Knoxville, they seem to have the government they deserve…