Last week my 96yr old Grandma fell, and since then has been in a rehab center in my hometown. Grandma has lived by herself, and despite bad knees and other complications has been managing. The issue now is 'will she be able to once again manage on her own, or will constant care be needed?' I cannot imagine the decisions that my mom, and her brothers and sister have awaiting them, but they have begun to discuss the matter. Amazingly my independent gram has said that 'IF the only alternative is the nursing home she will be content with their arrangements.' I wish she hadn't told them that because sitting in a conference with a rehab official my mother kept bringing up, 'well but if she's not able to go home.' Following the conference I asked my mother why she felt it necessary to keep bringing that up, it wasn't positive and the reply was 'well its the truth, she said it herself.' I tried to explain that Grandma's return to health, as much as possible, depended on a positive attitude and the rehab specialists know that when people think there is even the slightest possibility of returning home the recovery rate is much, much greater; so even though the medical possibilities are dim, to keep the hope alive makes a radical difference in their attitude even if they later must go to a nursing home. As I meditated that on the long drive home I began to again realize [with a new clarity and personal application] the spiritual application of keeping hope alive, even in the midst of overwhelming circumstances. If our faith does not have a foundation of hope - hope that when this life ends an eternal one with the Father begins - then we live with an entirely different attitude. So I guess in some situations even IF can be grounded in hope.
I've come across an interesting article about 'assisted suicide,' and after some very brief research would like to explore it for a moment. The article is titled: 'Suicide clinic is suspected as divers find urns in lake.' It seems that a Swiss assisted suicide organization named Dignitas is suspected of throwing many urns into
lake Zurich. Divers found a huge pile of urns and stopped counting at 50 because the task seemed so great. The reporter goes on to say that this is not the first time this group has been accused of disposing urns in the lake; and one time locals complained of a 'white scum' on the surface. In Switzerland assisted suicide is legal as long as 'no profit' can be shown by the assisting agency. A former employee of the agency said that she knew there were at least 300 urns put in the lake. I wonder if their actions are 'legal' according to the State's law why it is necessary to so nefariously dispose of the remains? Okay, I get the dumping in the lake is illegal, but it seems a bit hypocritical to me that an agency so worried about the dignity of dying so casually dispenses of dignity once that person is gone ... I don't get it, unless John 3:20 applies here, 'Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.'
Is there a small portion of guilt, not just economic reason for their moonlighting activity ..... in my opinion the answer is Yes, only I'm not so sure its so small. Or perhaps one might say, 'turn out the light, forget what remains.'
[article is from 'The Scotsman,' dated 29 April 2010 by Allan Hall.]
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Wow, we both still have grandmas that are alive and will quite a bit of independence! That seems to be a lot of urns--it would seem that someone in the family would be willing to take the ashes. By the way, in a recent issue of Christian Century there was a good article on cremation by Thomas Lynch. Its also online.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sage .......... I'll look the article up and read it. Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteMy great grandmother lived in some sort of "nursing home" arrangement that I quite liked whenever I visited her. It was made for seniors who still had some get up and go left in them but weren't sure due to bad hips, knees or other ailments when they might need emergency help quickly. They lived in a large apartment building and they all had their own apartments complete with a kitchenette. They could eat at home, go to a cafeteria to have meals cooked for them and had all kinds of groups to take them where ever they wanted to go around town. They also had a souped up call center thing on the wall where they could ring for emergency help and someone always checked on them once a day either personally or via phone. She really liked it for the year or two she lived there.
ReplyDeleteMy mom's 80 with one bum knee, till and still at home by herself. I dread the inevitable phone call after some injury. Like your grandmother, she's told me that if she can't be independent, she'd be "fine" going to a home of some sort. Me, I think that would be the start of a quick slide downhill, which I likewise dread.
ReplyDeleteEd..... sounds like your great-gram had a very good time there; it must have relieved the family of a lot of stress.
ReplyDeleteSherm ..... my mother is also 80 this year, and though she seems in very good physical health, I still have those 'fears of the phone.'
Sage......... thanks again for that article, it is a definite read. I like the line 'the air is full of ghosts who both instruct and disturb us. I wonder if 1 Jn.4:1 applies here [I know its a stretch] 'Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God..'?????