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Tales from the Steppes


2005-03-28

1:55 am
She was a fast machine, She kept her motor clean

It was about this time 5 years ago that the YM was born. As part of observing the mongols' birthdays each year, I take a few minutes to remember their actual births. This has two main purposes. The first is to commemorate them as individuals. With three of them, events tend to run together (given that I have a brain like a sieve)and I find it useful to recognize that the mongols are individually unique. Their individual births are somewhat indicative of their personalities. The EM's birth was a long, long, LONG passage, the MM easily slipped into existence, and the YM rocketed into this world.

The second reason for this remembrance is to remind me that no, I really don't want to ever do that again.

In conjunction with Easter, we held a family birthday celebration today. Strangely enough, my parents actually showed up. And even seemed to enjoy themselves. Quelle frommage. The YM was ecstatic to get an electric guitar, as well as the usual stuff. My parents gave him a slide whistle and bongos so it was a very noisy afternoon. I finally told him that the slide whistle was an outdoor toy and he had to go play it on one of the porches. One of the highlights of the day was Griffin having a conversation with himself (a la Smeagol) about whether or not he should form a rock band.

One of his birthday presents were a couple of sets of child-sized scrubs. (He had gotten some as part of a doctor's costume for Christmas but they were really too small.) One set was plain blue and the other had multi-colored frogs all over it. Guess which one he is wearing right now? When I opened the package, I found all of the usual stuff and a special extra - a religious tract. I am undecided on what to do about it. Just on general principle, this company deserves an email complaining about this. I find it very offensive to have paid for a product and to get religious crap along with it. I generally will not patronize businesses that display any religious symbol in any advertising - I just don't believe that it is relevant and it cheapens the belief. The exception would be a business where the religion actually has something to do with the product. Halal meat, Kosher deli, those are ok. As far as I know, Christian gas is not any better than gas that is non-religious. It's just more obnoxious. But ok, sending an email is a lot more effort than just dropping the damn thing in the circular file. But I won't order from them again.

I sponsored an Easter egg hunt in the park across the street this afternoon. It went well given that I had no idea how many kids were going to show up. We had about 20 kids and I had filled and hid 200 plastic eggs for them. Another neighbor had said she wanted to do mimosas for the parents so we had included that on the flyer. Now, in my book, if you are going to offer (unasked) to do something like this, you should consider showing up a little early, with all of the ingredients and serving utensils necessary. Not late and unprepared. Fortunately, I had all of the makings and cups, as well as a tablecloth and all the other stuff. Because I am Captain Anal Retentive. At least as far as providing beverages when they are promised, whether by me or others.

You know, I would have a lot more respect for the people yammering about the Schiavo right-to-die case if those same people also protested about the death penalty, starvation in Africa, and the war in Iraq. But apparently not all life is sacred. I have always been puzzled by the sloppy reasoning of conservatives that preach against abortion and euthanasia but for war, decreased foreign aid, and the death penalty. Just once, I'd like to hear them actually admit the root of their hypocrisy or say that it isn't actually about the "sanctity of life" but is instead about pushing a social agenda. I would like to think that it is not institutional racism and classicism but that is how it appears to me.

But as far as the actual Schiavo case is concerned, it is an extremely sad situation that has been exacerbated by politics. As a friendly warning, I would advise you to NEVER bring this topic up with the SU. Unless you are prepared to be depressed. You see, his mother was the test case in the state of Delaware to have her respirator turned off, since she was brain dead and in a coma. This was long, long, long before I met him - he was in grad school. So I do not have first hand experience with the topic, I have only seen the aftermath and heard the tales. Mary Severns had been an active member of the Delaware Euthanasia Society and her beliefs were well-known, so things were not fuzzy at all as far as her wishes were concerned. But by the time the case made it's way all the way to the Delaware Supreme Court, her body had adjusted and so she lived even after the respirator was disconnected. This was only a couple of years after Quinlan and it was a ground-breaking case that made a difficult time excruciating for all involved.

Well, anyway, that was pretty depressing. Sorry. I actually really like Easter. The whole spring rebirth thing is one of my favorites to celebrate. It is such an archetype running through our collective consciousness. Always amusing to see how different religions adopt the story and make it their own. But no fertility rites here, please.

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