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Medical Forum / General / General / September 2005Easter and the Fear of Death
Easter and the Fear of Death by Raymond Adams In the entire year, only Easter Sunday is an invitation in all churches to talk openly and honestly about death. All other weeks of the year the subject is hushed up except at funerals. But on Easter Sunday the subject comes out into the open as if for each of us the stone had been rolled away from the door of a tomb. Death is really an ever present subject for all of us. It strikes close to us every year, in our neighborhood, in the circle of our old friends, in our family, and even in our homes. And, because time always pushes us, we each know that some year it will strike still closer and we shall die. So open and honest talk about death is timely on every Easter Sunday. A religion or even a philosophy of life would not seem to me worth its salt unless in one way or another it removed the fear of death. If my religion helped me be happy from day to day, made me thankful, helped me serve my fellowman, but left me afraid of death and of dying, then I'd change my religion right now. It's not enough for a religion to help us live. We want it to help us to die also, to die like confident men and women. We need that good a faith because, as someone has said, "As soon as we are born we begin to die." In other words, all of life is a process of growing old and the ultimate end of that process is dying. Some whole civilizations have been obsessed with the fear of dying, so that Emerson said that everybody in ancient Egypt was either a tomb builder or an undertaker. Primitive men and Egyptians (and many modern men) provided physical equipment for physical bodies to use in the next world. Primitive Christians and some more recently have expected human bodies to rise up on a judgment day in the same way that Christ's body was said to have risen on Easter. Somehow that physical recovery of life has helped a lot of people to overcome the fear of death, and I am glad it has done so. But I do not get much help from that idea. I am not afraid of death because I think it is natural to die. I would as soon think of being afraid of sleep or of graying hair or of learning new facts as time unfolded them. All these natural things (even the gray hairs and, I hope, the mature sense that has come with them) have seemed good when they came. And I have a notion that the death of the body will seem good when that comes. I have something more than a notion, I have a conviction that what follows, what we call immortality, will seem good too and has been good to those who have experienced death. I suppose that's just old traditional Universalism, that It's trusting in a God of Love to order the whole universe in such loveliness that dying will be a part of the order of things. Death might then be taken in our stride. It might then be merely another step. ========================= "Endeavor to persevere" ========================= > So open and honest talk about > death is timely on every Easter > Sunday. And this is timely on August 3rd because ... ? > I am not afraid of death because I > think it is natural to die. Spoken like one of those gun-hugging nut jobs. Planning on visiting any campus bell towers any time soon? It's easy to feign bravery sitting at a computer terminal. When you have the barrel of a .45 pointed at you, and it looks like a friggin' cannon, THEN tell me how much you laugh at death. /Roy >And this is timely on August 3rd because ... ? ... we're staring down the barrel of the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombing? >>And this is timely on August 3rd because ... ? > >... we're staring down the barrel of the 60th anniversary of the >Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombing? http://www.chapelhillnews.com/news/story/2653748p-9090582c.html Published: Aug 2, 2005 Activist Adams dies at 102 By MATT DEES, STAFF WRITER CHAPEL HILL -- Charlotte Adams spoke softly but carried a big olive branch. The longtime peace and civil rights activist, who died Thursday at age 102, cut her feisty spirit and unwavering idealism with a dose of Southern gentility. When former Gov. Jim Hunt sent her well wishes on her 90th birthday, Adams thanked him, of course. But then she chastised him for not pardoning the Wilmington 10, a group of civil rights activists convicted of bombing a grocery store before authorities learned the group had been framed. She hadn't forgotten this failing, even though she brought it up more than 10 years after the fact. "She was a small little woman, a little bit tart but not too much so," said Adams' niece, Shirley Vanclay of Chapel Hill. "She called everyone 'dear.' She treated everybody in the same kind of open and friendly way." Adams made her mark over eight decades in Chapel Hill, speaking out against war, segregation and socioeconomic disparity. She founded the local branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1935 and the state's first dispute mediation center in 1977. Her sun porch on Patterson Place, just behind the Chi Psi fraternity house, was a frequent venue for vigorous political debate over afternoon tea. She had to leave that house in 2001 after she fractured her hip trying to climb over a stone wall during her daily trip to the post office. She and husband, Raymond, an English professor at UNC-Chapel Hill who died in 1987, built that home in 1940. She led a weekly vigil protesting the Vietnam War for seven years in front of the Franklin Street post office. Adams continued those activities well into her 90s, attending monthly meetings of the Women's International League and writing letters to national leaders urging them to seek peaceful resolutions to conflict. That guiding philosophy led her to create the Dispute Settlement Center. She and two other women sat through hours of court proceedings to make sure minorities and long-haired young men received fair treatment. During those hours, they realized many of the disputes were petty ones between neighbors, so they spent years trying to persuade local leaders to fund a program that would keep such disagreements from clogging the court system. Today, the Dispute Settlement Center of Orange County is a nonprofit that helps policy-makers, business leaders and individuals solve differences collaboratively. "I think it's sort of a capstone of all the human relations work she did over so many years," said Frances Henderson, the center's director. Adams stories abound, and Dan Pollitt, a former UNC law professor who often was her partner in protest, has lots of them. She put up her own house as bond (without telling her husband) to bail out a Vietnam draftee who refused to serve, Pollitt said. She was pepper sprayed in the 1960s after she and five UNC housekeepers refused to leave the governor's office before he met with them to discuss state workers' low wages, Pollitt said. Perhaps the best-known occurrence happened when the pair led protests for months outside Chapel Hill's two movie theaters in 1961, trying to integrate them. One rainy night, as a small group marched outside the Carolina Theatre, the manager came out with an umbrella, held it over Adams' head and walked with her. She no doubt appreciated the gentlemanly gesture. But, Pollitt said: "That didn't make up for it in her eyes. He should have opened the theater to everyone. Then she wouldn't have had to be out there in the first place." ========================= "Endeavor to persevere" ========================= >> So open and honest talk about >> death is timely on every Easter [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >have the barrel of a .45 pointed at you, and it looks like a friggin' >cannon, THEN tell me how much you laugh at death. http://www.walden.org/Institute/Collections/Adams/Adams.htm ========================= "Endeavor to persevere" ========================= >>> So open and honest talk about >>> death is timely on every Easter [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >>have the barrel of a .45 pointed at you, and it looks like a friggin' >>cannon, THEN tell me how much you laugh at death. I've looked at Death many times. My own. Through the muzzle of a gun aimed at me, in a hospital operating room, lying on my floor dying from heart attack, in automobile and motorcycle accidents. Each time, I escape with my Life for some lucky reason nobody knows. But I know what it feels like. Nobody laughs at death, when it is crawling up their a.s. Lg >http://www.walden.org/Institute/Collections/Adams/Adams.htm > >========================= > "Endeavor to persevere" >========================= And no one should laugh, watching another stuggle with death. >And no one should laugh, watching another stuggle >with death. It is never a laughing matter, except to the deviant and deranged. Lg >And no one should laugh, watching another stuggle >with death. Unless they really really had it coming. Been there, done that. And pissed on the fresh corpse. Shrug Gunner Liberals - Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own. Benjamin Disraeli "Endeavor ... or check your email and compliance officer. ... in case you need a reference. http://www.med.nyu.edu/administration/hospitalofficers/ ... in case you need another Reference. http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.support.attn-deficit/browse_frm/thread/3 c1727572eae86fb/db4440fffd932d3a#db4440fffd932d3a ========================= "Endeavor to persevere" ========================= Katha would know what do do. Calvin, call Katha, call Sherri, call ... Do The Right Thing, or the very, very, very Righter Thing for something far worse ~ ! Matthew B. Smith, MD Victoria Rivamonte, PsyD ~ I hate your f.cking guts. You almost killed me. ~ Virginia H. Hooper ~ * ~ Blog, I'll warrant ye, or dog? Who knows. Pass the grog! But if ye see me lost pup, please bring that scurvy dog home! I got Leon a brand-new bone, with a chest full a' booty. * _________________________________________ ~ * An Unstarry Sorry Soirée ~ Or, A Morning Wood Morality Morrasse, Or The Messy Maze, So Don't Be Amazed If I Don't Stop Anytime Soon * ~ _________________________________________ * Medical Juris Non ~ Prudence ! ~ * ~ A Morning Wood !But~of~Course! Cabalistic Course in Wicked Wisdome * _________________________________________ ~ Good for All, But Not for All, and Certainly ~ All for Not! ~ "Not too long ago, Hospitals would penalize any Member of its staff who would testify For a plaintiff In a malpractice case." ~ Ralph Slovenko, J.D., Ph.D., >From "Psychiatric Times" 2004 http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=59100165 _________________________________________ Yes ~ Another Morning Wood Annoying Altercation, or Just Say ~ It's All for Nothing! _________________________________________ * "'Doctors,'" I shricked, 'be thou jugglers, Misleaders, misdemeanors, Nightmares, or dirty devils, no more Will I endure thy Quackeries. Ether thou or I Must perish.' And saying these words I precipitated my Anxious Neurotic Angels upon them All. x19. ~ How the Polyhedra, having in vain Tried words, and rational misdeeds, Resorted to uncommon means For her normal needs." ~ Elfin. Anne Badways, >From "Hollow Land ~ A Romance of Many Centuries, No, Eons" _________________________________________ Just Programmatic Linguistic Practical Notation for ~ "Huh? O." _________________________________________ * Dogging Arts * Fogging Minds * It's a Star * _________________________________________ * What about Ash Wednesday and all of freakin Lent? " ... and to dust shalt thou return." What about Ash Wednesday and all of freakin Lent? " ... and to dust shalt thou return." Felons. Try rice. "... and Black Medick, mostly Vox Angelica, man Vox Humana, oh, baby Vox Populi, fer shure Vraisemblance." ~ Capsicum "Why does Chastened Brio reject my advances?" ~ Da Vinci "Dunno, oh, baby Mate ~ Check Your Merck Manual, oh, baby or your AMA Nerd Of Style." ~ Arrowroot "Rue de Royal, Who's Maison ~ ? Who, a fôlatre face, if feathered, turning red On the Schuerhakens ~ ?" ~ Anne Rice "Filled verruecktheit Of ~ The Cards of Death, or The Seating Cards of The Courtyard's Dinner ~ ?" ~ Capsicum !bonnuitmesamis! ...pour vous vielleicht. But what of Martyrologies, ... Absalom hanging by his Hair, Red Seas Smoothed Over, All Saints, All Souls, the JawBone of an a.s? "... pour vous vielleicht. But what of Martyrologies, ... Absalom Hanging by his Hair, Red Seas Smoothed Over, All Saints, All Souls, The JawBone of an a.s?" ~ Ihdbaby ~ * Saint Flavious Rederick Silver Ear is naturally famous, most notably, for his cunning croquet match, his captured triumph last November ~ Much ado about mostly highly celebrated gamely matters ~ ! His books, 'A Morality Garbage Pail for Puking,' 'Of Moral Greatness ~ Chains of Being Melted Down,' which, according to substantiated rumor, garnered the Thankless Clanking Rye Bread Award. Nonetheless, it is more than likely that the underground prequel to his infamous trilogy 'Rosehips, Stage & Thyme,' tentatively titled 'Primly Vigor,' reveals the most mysterious anonymous unsolved puzzle. Here, from our window, we see The Revered Saint Silver Ear strolling on the East Prato, admiring his hand ~ crocheted pink croquet mallet mitt, while standing near the center ~ most wicket, of the figure 8, meditating, too, upon his hobby horse, while dining absent ~ mindedly on Hastily ~ Made Pudding. Afterward, according to his Tuesday afternoon agenda, St. Silver will collapse for a nap, after ensuring Wooster's Shire Sauce has been dutifully acquired this evening's supper. Meanwhile, his caddy studies a not ~ terminated scrimmage play, left of center, from The Game Strategy Book, for tomorrow's match. Meanwhile. mid ~ summer afternoon soon settles upon the persuasive demands of dusk. A northerly breeze riffles willow leaves. * ~ "Dear Ms. Ihdbaby ~ Presently in Amsterdam stop soon in Haarlem stop Harry says all's fine stop Hope nouveau bambino swell stop Folly sends regards stop best Twittering stop" >...pour vous vielleicht. But what of Martyrologies, ... Absalom >hanging by his Hair, Red Seas Smoothed Over, All Saints, All Souls, the >JawBone of an a.s? Do you have any thoughts of your own? heh That was a silly. The answer is pretty obvious. ...pour vous vielleicht. But what of Martyrologies, ... Absalom hanging by his Hair, Red Seas Smoothed Over, All Saints, All Souls, the JawBone of an a.s? But to speak as honestly and as openly as a rock removed, etc. "But to speak as honestly And as openly as a rock removed, etc." ~ Ihdbaby "Black Orchids." ~ Folly November 22, 1979 Boston "I created a name for you You you you Of ashes and blood Rose petals and clay I gave birth to you A diamond etching in Glass To the tolling of copper Bells Slowly slowly The strangers bring The luminosity of the webbed wings The luminosity of the bats' Squeals I hear. I hear! The terror of that night, O I remember that night There will be a mole on Your right hip There will be death at Your footsteps And the strangers will fall Like flies they fall They fall and fall And I fall and fall Free-form and alone I embrace your fears I beg for your love So cool... I had to create a name For you Like a beggar scratching In the sand Like a jungle fire In the heart of the ruby" ~ Rocky "A ruby encircled by diamonds, A whisper in your ear, A sparrow on your roof ~ !Quoof!" ~ Twittering ~ * ~ !A Morning Wood Privet Hedgehog Public Service ~ !* ~ * ~ _________________________________________ !Morning Wood Continues Public Education ~ _________________________________________ ~ * A Morning Wood Very Special Public Service Announcement * ~ _________________________________________ ~ * The Center for the Advancement Of Children's Mental Health At Columbia University * ~ _________________________________________ ~ * The Warning Signs Project ~ * "Despite well-documented levels of emotional And behavioral problems in the nation's youth, Studies have repeatedly shown That most youth with mental health problems Are not identified And do not receive needed care. The main goal of this federally supported project Is to develop key warning signs Of children's mental health problems. These signs were developed through scientific Data analysis and through feedback >From nationwide focus groups with parents, Teachers, providers, And adolescents." Just see ~ http://www.kidsmentalhealth.org/families.html ~~~ *~ _________________________________________ A Morning Wood Recognition Of My Buds ~ * Terrence & Melody Mix * ~ & Their Suffering & Death From A Ravaging Torment Against Which I Revenge & Rage ~ * ~ Terrence Mix 1955 ~ 1980 Melody Mix 1959 ~ 1977 ~ *~ _________________________________________ * Dogging Arts * Fogging Minds * It's a Star * _________________________________________ * ~ * ~ Blog, I'll warrant ye, or dog? Who knows. Pass the grog! But if ye see me lost pup, please bring that scurvy dog home! I got Leon a brand-new bone, with a chest full a' booty. _________________ http://journals.aol.com/virginiaz/DreamingofLeonardo Beware ~ In instances of Complex Trauma Of further vicitmization, maltreatment, and verbal abuse ... http://www.nctsnet.org/nccts/nav.do?pid=ctr_type_complex "It is not shown on any map True places never are." That's Nabokov after Melville in _Bend Sinister_. Though I do like John Ashbery, Symbology in general bores me. Folly should've known, and She of all persons: Black Tulips would have maybe done ... something. 30. |
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