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~ My.Daily.Distraction

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Tag Archives: death

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 108… No More Suffering

07 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Canada, Cancer, Health, Law, Politics

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Canada, Cancer, death, Family, Law, Right To Die, Supreme Court

Yesterday and finally, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the ban on doctor assisted suicide.

As per the Huffington Post:

“The court unanimously struck down the ban on providing a doctor assisted death to mentally competent but suffering and irremediable patients.”

I lost both parents to cancer and saw each bedside vigil to it’s inevitable and ultimate conclusion.

Both times it was incomprehensible to me that laws refused any death with dignity.

Hopefully, this ends now.

Families across Canada will never have to experience the helplessness at not being able to tell the medical community as their loved ones slowly, ever so slowly walk through the valleys in the shadow of death:

“No more suffering…

…Enough.”

Post 71: Chaos Theory

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Poems, Poetry, Religion, spirituality

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chaos, death, destruction, Faith, ferryman, Poems, Poetry, reaper, spirituality

Woke up this morning to terrible news
While I slept chaos tightened the screws
Overnight the reaper tallied his score
One thousand plus met death at the door

The whole world runs on the chaos theory
The devil revels in the chaos theory
You cannot run from the chaos theory
There’s no control in the chaos theory

Just when you think you’ve got a good bead on things
You get sucker punched just before the bell rings
I can’t say this any more clearly
There’s death and destruction in the chaos theory

The only way you can make this right
Is keep your loved ones close and say your prayers at night
It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor
The ferry man will come and settle the score

There is no reason for the chaos theory
There is no rhyme for the chaos theory
There’s no steady beat with the chaos theory
The world revolves on the chaos theory

You may wonder if God can hear your cries
The devil says no but he always lies
Do you wonder how we ever survived
Just to watch fight and pray to keep faith alive

You cannot run from the chaos theory
CNN and FOX love the chaos theory
Life is cheap in the chaos theory
There is no peace in the chaos theory

Your demons get their kicks from the chaos theory
The devil gets high on the chaos theory
There’s no out thinking the chaos theory
God says do not fear the chaos theory

He’s got this.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 66: Peace On Earth

20 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by duckykoren in non-fiction, Peace, Stories, Travel

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blogs, Cleveland, death, flags, grandfathers, Grandmothers, grief, Happy, Hospital, Italy, lights, loss, love, Niagara Falls, pace, Pantheon, Peace, Peace on Earth, Rome, Writing

As I get older, I’ve begun to notice that I observe holidays and occasions with a different focus lens than the ones I used in my earlier years.

Further, it is with sadness that I take a few moments to remember my loved ones who are no longer here.

My grandfather always had a wonderful way with words.

I remember asking him if he had one wish, what would it be?

“Peace on Earth,” was his reply.

He would say these words often and with meaning.

If there was an uncomfortable pause in conversation during a stressful family moment, he would break the silence with the words…

“Peace on earth.”

After listening to disturbing news coverage, again, we would all hear him say…

“Peace on earth…”

as his own resounding amen to the state of the world, the country, mankind.

And then came the sad day, when we laid my grandfather to rest in late January 2000.

Driving back from the memorial service my heart was searching for a healing balm to take away the pain of losing him.

I did not have to search long.

Maybe it was only a coincidence.

Maybe it was because of a forgetful maintenance man.

Some might even say that it was serendipity.

Because driving by a lit up hospital during late night January, I saw his very own words emblazoned in white frothy Christmas lights all over the hospital’s front entrance…

‘Peace On Earth.’

Look up the word ‘serendipity on Wikipedia and you’ll find the following definition:

“Serendipity is when someone finds something that they weren’t expecting to find. In the simplest of words, it means a “happy accident”.

I believe in serendipity. Every now and then something seems to happen to me in the form of “a happy accident.”

Only, I know it isn’t an accident. Rather, it’s a push or a nudge from forces far greater than myself signalling that miracles do happen to those who are open to the experience.

Take for example my next story:

I remember when I was about six years old, my paternal grandparents from Cleveland were visiting us in Toronto.

One day, we took a day trip to Niagara Falls.

As I sat in the back seat of the car next to my grandmother, she taught me the song: ‘Dona Nobis Pacem,’ which in English means

‘Peace on Earth’.

After singing a few choruses with her, and after I had learned it well enough to sing by myself, my grandmother and I then sang it as a round, again and again.

It is such a beautiful song, which I love deeply, even to this day.

And so, it was during a very happy time in my life when I found myself in Rome. We had just left the Pantheon and were making our way back to the hotel.

I looked up to a balcony and saw a flag hanging from a window that brought a happy mist to my eyes.

The flag bore only one word.

‘Pacem,’

This word, of course, is Latin for Peace, or…

better known to me as:

Dona Nobis Pacem

Give us peace.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 52: Requiem 2014

10 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Entertainment, Obituaries

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alcohol abuse, comedians, death, Depression, drug abuse, drugs, entertainers, Entertainment, Gambling, loss, Movies, oscars, overdose, Philip seymore hoffman, robin williams, smoking, suicide

And so 2014 now draws to a close…

One year ago, if you were to ask me who my favourite actor was my answer would have been Philip Seymour Hoffman.

And now over the past year we have sadly lost both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Williams.

None of us saw the loss of these two men coming.

My daughter is a registered nurse and counsels people on how to deal with substance abuse and addictions. She tells me that people are often searching for the same high they encountered in their first drug experience.

The medical community calls this “Chasing the Green Dragon”.

I believe that all of us have or have had at least one green dragon or vice in our life. It could be drugs, gambling, alcohol, sex, smoking, or a multitude of other behaviours and traits that can easily wind up to be all consuming.

Some of us chase the Green Dragon.

Others run away from it.

And we never know what’s around the corner, or what day will be our last.

Not me, not you.

No one.

And I only say that because we have freedom of choice: The ability to make good choices, not so good choices, and deadly ones.

I’m grateful for Philip Seymore Hoffman and Robin Williams. Thanks to movie and computer magic, I will be able to enjoy their vast library of work for the rest of my days.

I can only hope that in death both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Williams found the peace that had eluded them in life.

Everyone deserves peace of mind while they are still among the living.

Wouldn’t you agree.

On that note…

May all of your green dragons be banish-able ones.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 46: Mush

04 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Poems, Poetry, Verse

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blogs, death, dementia, Depression, life, nursery rhymes, Poetry, Verse, Writing

Amid my ever shrinking attention span

I’ve got to concentrate

At least while I can

Because I may not be lucid come morning

Please God keep me thinking clear one more day

Because I can hear growing voices say

As my senses grow dimmer…

Hush now baby don’t you cry

We’re going to song you a lullabye

That will slowly turn your mind into mush

Life beats down those who choose

To close their eyes and then take a snooze

It’s game over when your mind turns to mush…

Life’s a finite game plan with a one minute warning

When the last call comes the shriek is alarming

I heard the plate crack as it ran away with the spoon

While my mind is still nimble

It’s no longer quick

And it’s years since I’ve cleared that candlestick

But I can still get lost in it’s glow…

Humpy Dumpty’s fallen and I’m all alone

His shell is in pieces and my minds totally blown

How does one put life together again

My cell phone rang and when I took the call

A voice said get Cinderella to the ball

Her fairy godmother’s still sleeping…

Jack and Jill went up that hill

To fetch some water to take their pills

What was it that I was just thinking?

There’s not much anyone can do

When age and vice catch up with you

There’s no such thing as pretty maids in all in a row…

Life is really one hell of a dance

You’ve got to kick up your heels

While you still get a chance or

Ashes to ashes

And we all fall down…

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 45: The Case Of The Bad-Ass Mortician

02 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by duckykoren in death, fashion, funeral home, funerals, humor, Humour, Mortician, mysteries, Mystery, undertaker

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

casket, death, Family, fashion, funeral, Humour, ikea, mortician, mysteries, Mystery, nudity, pants, twitter, undertakers

Upon returning to work after a two week holiday, I learned the sad news that an old friend and co-worker’s father had passed away.

Finding the appropriate moment during the shift, I spotted him alone and offered him my condolences.

“Was it sudden?” I asked.

“No,” he answered with a sad smile.

“Dad was 101 years old. He died the day before I was to take him to the home.”

Then my coworker continued on, explaining to me that several months before…

“Dad had all his funeral plans pre-arranged…”

“That was good of him…” I responded.

“Best and smartest thing he ever did for us. Dad even picked out his own suit,” my friend admitted with obvious pride.

“However, when my sister went to the funeral home to deliver his suit, she was told by the staff that they didn’t need the pants.”

“What?” I asked…

“Do you mean to tell me that they buried him without any pants on?” I asked…

…“Is this common?” I then added.

“I guess,” he answered. “Must be too hard for the undertakers to get the pants on. Besides, when they’re in the casket, you only see them from the waist up anyway.”

Walking away from the conversation to get back to work I pondered this, and wondered if it was true.

Are people really buried with no pants on?

That evening, I decided to conduct my own investigation.

Since I knew no morticians personally, I turned turn this question over to one of the most no-nonsense, and fact-based sources I knew of, well known for it’s rich insight and expertise:

Twitter.

Keeping my enquiry below the legal 140 character limit, I began my investigation into this mystery with the following professional and high calibre tweet, worthy of any crime solving detective:

“Spoke with a friend who recently lost dad. Funeral home told him people are buried butt naked waist down. Is this true? Just wondering…”

Soon afterward, the replies started rolling get

@BinaBecker No, thankfully. But they may well be buried without socks or shoes–putting those on is apparently too much hassle for undertakers.

Then came…

@PaganGmaSayin Let me know if you get an answer, please? That just seems weird…

The discussion continued with…

@bewichd My mom’s in a Tpot, EX will be spread at Disneyworld, me, I’m hoping to be droppd in Ikea or Neimans (dad’s at sea)

The next day, I approached my co-worker, the one who had started it all and asked him…

“You were serious, right? You weren’t just pulling my leg?”

“I was dead serious,” he replied.

And so, what could these implications mean?

Can you imagine CNN breaking the news…

It would only be a matter of time before families all over North America would be demanding the immediate explanations regarding the (lacking) wardrobe of their dearly departed loved ones.

God forbid that dear Aunt Rose went to her grave without any knickers on.

This must mean that there are millions of people walking around in the afterlife wrapped in borrowed towels.

The final reply from twitter was as follows:

@duskwynd not according the funeral director I spoke to this w/end – ppl are buried in the clothing provided by their families

So, there you have it.

Of course, it is important for families to be vigilant and ensure that everything is in place when the time comes.

However, in future, it will be difficult for me to attend funerals without wondering…

“Are they or aren’t they?”

Only your local mortician knows for sure.

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