Prayers? . . .

(https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/why-i-boycotted-congress-moment-silence-after-texas-shooting-ncna819161)
". . . I did pray for the victims and their families that day. But as a federal legislator, I know our thoughts and prayers are simply not enough. . . When tragedy strikes, feeling helpless is understandable. There is little you can do to stop a tornado, a hurricane, or a cancer diagnosis from changing your life in an instant. But gun violence is not an unavoidable fact of life. . . We cannot treat Sunday’s events as a natural disaster — this tragedy is man-made. . . Offering thoughts and prayers are a valuable way to let loved ones know you care, but no one should offer them at the expense of action. . . That’s why when Speaker Paul Ryan asked for yet another moment of silence in the U.S. Capitol on Monday, I chose to leave. . . I respect my colleagues who participate in moments of silence. I have participated in all of them until now. But based on the increasing number of mass shootings and the inaction of Congress, I have concluded that the best way to honor victims of mass shootings is to try to prevent future mass shootings, not stand and be silent for 60 seconds. . . Since I became a member of Congress in 2015, there have been over 1,000 mass shootings in the United States according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, including three of the most deadly in U.S. history. . . Since I became a member of Congress in 2015, more than 60,000 people have died from firearms-related deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. . . Since I became a member of Congress in 2015, Congress has not taken a single vote on gun safety legislation. . . But since 2015 we did hold a number of 60-second moments of silence — more than 20, actually. And what have those 60 second acts resulted in? Nothing. . . "

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Comedy. . .

Comedians are fascinating persons.  They can be so hilarious at "work" while as soon as the lights dim and crowd is gone, they can be terribly sad people.  That's not to say Tig Notaro is sad.  I don't honestly know that much about her except that she is very funny.  But this article gives a glimpse of how real life problems can influence a comedian and the fascinating interplay that results between the stage and real life.

 (from http://www.fastcocreate.com/1681714/tig-notaros-legendary-largo-show-now-available-on-louis-cks-web-platform)

". . . To say that Tig Notaro has had a challenging year would be a not-quite-laughable understatement. The result of the talented comic’s bout with breast cancer (and a collection of other poorly timed maladies), though, was the material and rare mood to pull off a single set that’s been described as both heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measure.

“In my 27 years doing this I have seen a handful of truly masterful performances. One was Tig Notaro last night at Largo.” That’s reigning stand-up king Louis C.K. tweeting the day after Notaro’s notorious August 3 show at Largo in California. This high-profile endorsement joined others by the likes of Bill Burr and Ed Helms, which, taken along with a widely circulated blog post, incited a wave of speculation that most of us had maybe missed out on something truly special. Now, it looks like we’ll actually get to hear it.

Notaro recorded the set at Largo, and when I spoke with her for a Co.Create profile a while back, she mentioned that clips would likely surface on the radio show This American Life. Thankfully, clips were not going to be enough, and now Louis C.K. is releasing the set through his web platform. The show, entitled LIVE--as in, what she hopes to continue to do--is available for $5 as of October 5th. . ."

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So what . . .

. . . miracle drug or horrendous malady can do all of the below? . . .

Prevent depression
Prevent prostate cancer
Reduce probability of strokes for women
Ward off Alzheimer’s
Reduce probability of breast cancer
Contain antioxidants
Make you smarter
Deliver a jolt deep in the brain
Not make you more alert
Protect you against type 2 diabetes
Trigger heart attack
Stimulate the adrenal hormones leaving your body’s parasympathetic nervous system (also known as the rest and digest system) inactive
Cause stomach ulcers
Cause birth defects
 
A newly published study of 400,000 participants says that coffee is not a guilty pleasure that may do harm. Neal Freedman of the National Cancer Institute says there may actually be a modest benefit of coffee drinking. Coffee contains many things that can affect health, from helpful antioxidants to tiny amounts of substances linked to cancer. And surprisingly, caffeine didn't play a role in the results of the new study. It's not that earlier studies were wrong. There is evidence that coffee can raise LDL, or bad cholesterol, and blood pressure (at least short-term) and those can raise the risk of heart disease.

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A good friend . . .

. . . of mine was recently diagnosed with cancer. Like so many others, it began with a persistent pain in one place, source of which could not be identified. When it finally was identified, the cancer had metastasized to the lungs. In any case, this person is responding well to chemotherapy at this writing.

At the workplace of my friend, the staff has decided to hold a 'raffle' to assist with medical expenses. Tickets are $1.00 each, or 6 tickets for $5.00. Prizes of 1st place $250, 2nd $100 and 3rd $50 will be distributed with the remainder going to my friend. The explanatory memo concluded with, "Please be as generous as you can, and be reminded that, there but for the grace of God go you or I."

The tribal closing remark infuriated me. It implies to me that there is a 'God' who chose my friend to inflict cancer (punishment?) upon. And this 'God', in 'his' infinite wisdom and choice of my friend is 'merciful'(???) in NOT inflicting it upon ME and the author of the memo??? What could my good friend have done to piss this 'God' off so royally? Is this a 'God' of which YOU would want to have any part??? A theistic ‘God’ possessing such worthless ‘grace’, to me simply does not exist.

I prefer the consciousness of thinkers such as John Shelby Spong, Ernest Holmes, John A.T. Robinson and other more intellectually discriminating folks who view 'God' not as a theistic "man with a beard on a throne in a heaven", but instead as the ground of all being. This view of ‘God', though unbeknownst to the author of the 'raffle' memo, is precisely the thing that prompts her to help our friend in the first place. I can only wish that we didn't resort to primitive, tribal cliches in matters of life, death and God.




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Let's all get 'raptured up'. . .

. . . paraphrasing a hitherto, unnamed blogger, but real nonetheless. (Is this like being 'ratcheted up'?)

"I can't wait to see what the Lord has planned for this world and my church. I love my church. It's something I can always look forward to. I can't wait to go to heaven. I wish there was some way to get everybody saved and then just go. I'm tired of this world. . . [Same guy. Apparently not well-adjusted.]

“I had a mother last night come up to me here in Tampa, Florida, after the debate, she told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter.” [Presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann exhibiting a bit of gullibility.)

"Like so many of life’s varieties of experience, the novelty of a diagnosis of malignant cancer has a tendency to wear off. The thing begins to pall, even to become banal. One can become quite used to the specter of the eternal Footman, like some lethal old bore lurking in the hallway at the end of the evening, hoping for the chance to have a word. And I don’t so much object to his holding my coat in that marked manner, as if mutely reminding me that it’s time to be on my way. No, it’s the snickering that gets me down. . . What do I hope for? If not a cure, then a remission. And what do I want back? In the most beautiful apposition of two of the simplest words in our language: the freedom of speech." (Christopher Hitchens, journalist, author, philosopher, recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer.)

“I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail… There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark” (Stephen Hawking, educator, scientist, author)

"The best way to lose all is to cling with desperation to that which cannot possibly be sustained literally. Literalistic Christians will learn that a God or a faith system that has to be defended daily is finally no God or faith system at all. They will learn that any god who can be killed ought to be killed. Ultimately they will discover that all their claims to represent the historical, traditional, or biblical truth of Christianity cannot stop the advance of knowledge that will render every historic claim for a literal religious system questionable at best, null and void at worst." [Bishop John Shelby Spong, Episcopal (Anglican) Bishop of Newark, NY, in Resurrection: Myth or Reality?)




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If only. . .

. . . or should I ask "when only"?

The New York Times
Sept. 13, 2011
". . . A year ago, when chemotherapy stopped working against his leukemia, William Ludwig signed up to be the first patient treated in a bold experiment at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Ludwig, then 65, a retired corrections officer from Bridgeton, N.J., felt his life draining away and thought he had nothing to lose.

Doctors removed a billion of his T-cells — a type of white blood cell that fights viruses and tumors — and gave them new genes that would program the cells to attack his cancer. Then the altered cells were dripped back into Mr. Ludwig’s veins.

At first, nothing happened. But after 10 days, hell broke loose in his hospital room. He began shaking with chills. His temperature shot up. His blood pressure shot down. He became so ill that doctors moved him into intensive care and warned that he might die. His family gathered at the hospital, fearing the worst.

A few weeks later, the fevers were gone. And so was the leukemia.

A number of research groups have been trying to do this, but the T-cells they engineered could not accomplish all the tasks. As a result, the cells’ ability to fight tumors has generally been temporary.

The University of Pennsylvania team seems to have hit all the targets at once. Inside the patients, the T-cells modified by the researchers multiplied to 1,000 to 10,000 times the number infused, wiped out the cancer and then gradually diminished, leaving a population of “memory” cells that can quickly proliferate again if needed.

The researchers said they were not sure which parts of their strategy made it work — special cell-culturing techniques, the use of H.I.V.-1 to carry new genes into the T-cells, or the particular pieces of DNA that they selected to reprogram the T-cells. . ."

Hell of a thing, don't you think?!





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