Abbie

In the fall of 2003 I flew from the North West to North Carolina to pick up a Rescued Papillion dog that we were planning to adopt. When I got there I was introduced to a very frightened, very small dog whose entire body had been shaved because of a skin condition from being kept in a filthy environment for the first eight years of her life. She had been used as a breeding dog and was in poor shape; in fact the biggest part of her that day was probably her large eyes that begged for acceptance. A couple of days later she flew home with me and became part of a family that included other dogs, cats and humans that were there to help her recover and discover that being a dog wasn’t all that bad.

She came to us without a name but finally selected “Abbie” as a sound she could respond to. In the past eight years she slowly grew back her hair and became a full fledged dog. She did have her moments of confusion, at first not knowing that outside was ok to run around in and that food could be made to taste good and that humans were there to scratch ears and provide comfort when the thunder storms rolled through.

But finally the terrible conditions she endured the first half of her life have caught up with her and her liver has started to fail. We started to fear the worst when she stopped eating and developed a hepatic breath. The lab report came back today and the vet gives her only a few short days to be with us.

There are some who cannot see, or understand the attachment other humans have for their four legged friends, but we find as much comfort from the animals in our life as we hope they get from us. Abbies trip across the rainbow bridge will leave a hole in our hearts, but her memory will keep her alive in our hearts.

Fading Away (Not) Gracefully

1 May 2011

Some people can’t seem to grow old with dignity. Back in the old days when I was still working for the federal government one of the presidents I worked under was Jimmy Carter. As president he made some notably bad decisions that even today have an impact on the country.

As a manager he was, from the perspective of an employee, a disaster. He couldn’t get past the mind set of a peanut farmer and had no skill when it came to running a large enterprise. Faced with an economic downturn one of his solutions was to turn off the hot water in all government facilities and limit the heating and cooling systems. Depending on the season the employees were either wearing coats in the office or sweating heavily.

It was good theater and certainly made for positive newspaper articles except his order also stated that political appointees were not to be impacted by this “cost saving program”. The amount of money expended in providing separate utilities for political appointees far exceeded the “savings” gained by making the working troops uncomfortable.

About two years ago the government of North Korea told all the foreign assistance workers who were trying to help the country recover from decades of bad crops and subsequent starvation that their help was no longer needed. The U.S. pulled its aid workers out, as demanded, and left some 20,000 metric tons of food behind. Since then the North Korean government has overseen more food production failure and wide spread starvation of its people.

Now comes Mr. Carter, fresh from a recent visit to the People’s Republic with a press conference where he accused the United States of committing human rights abuses by withholding food aid from North Korea. I was pleased to see that the State Department didn’t waste any time refuting Mr. Carter and letting the world know the true series of events that have resulted in North Korea deliberately creating a disaster for their own people. I think it’s about time we encouraged him to return to his peanut farm and stop trying to play with the big boys.

Science or Miracle?

I ran across a report about the smallest premature baby to survive and I’m astounded at the rate medicine has progressed. In a former life I was a paramedic and had many opportunities to deliver babies in the field, and let me tell you a successful field delivery is a wonderful experience. Back then the common wisdom was that a fetus under a thousand grams weight and less then 27 weeks of gestation would “most likely” not survive. Usually because the child’s lungs had not developed to the point of being able to breathe and the kid would not be able to breathe.

The smallest child I ever delivered weighed into life at right around 900 grams (just about a pound) and was small enough to hold in the palm of one hand. My personal miracle was that we were able to keep that kid warm and breathing until we got to the hospital and then transport her onward to a Level 1 neonatal facility. That made me feel good and I’ve occasionally wondered how it all turned out, but as usual, we never heard.

The article I read discussed a little girl that was born in Germany last fall. She was only half way through the second trimester (21 weeks and 5 days) and weighed at birth just 460 grams or just about half a pound.  Don’t know if that young lady is alive today because of science or if a miracle happened. I just know that a physical event that just a few years ago was not considered possible has been proven wrong.

Faith of our fathers

I was looking for a subject to write about when I ran across an article about several thousand small stone monuments, or stele, that are located high above the shoreline of coastal Japan. All are different but it seems that all of them have a common theme, “Don’t build your house below this point”. These small stones represent the high water mark of previous tsunami that have devastated the area. Unfortunately, as human nature goes many people failed to heed the warning and built below the marker anyway. And as recently proven, with disastrous results.

In my mind’s eye I can see someone who is grieving and has lost a family to a tsunami taking time to think about those who follow us and giving them a warning of the strength of nature. I can also see those future generations thinking it will never happen here but overall I can see the faith of the stele builder that had hope for future generations and wanted to pass a little bit of wisdom.

The timing is appropriate for this is a time of the year where Christians pause to remember a momentous moment in their history and pass on the promise that out of despair came hope and expectation for a bright future. Like the Japanese who made the stele I also have hope for the future and confidence in those who will be here long after I’ve departed.

Have a most peaceful and happy Easter.

Taxes

Like most of the country I am mesmerized by the “budget battle(s)” that are keeping Congress busy these days. That politicians can proclaim that cutting spending by .038 of a percent is a good thing strikes me as ludicrous, disingenuous and morally deficient. As an individual and as part of a family I know that if I spend more money than I earn I’m pretty soon going to be in trouble if not in jail.

The President in a recent speech laid out his agenda, one that includes raising taxes and not really cutting programs. Since our current debt is in the trillions of dollars I suspect that under his program the tax rate would soon be 100%. But what really frightens me is one of the ways he proposes to raise taxes.

His proposal is that if by 2014 (three years from now) the ratio of debt to the Gross National Product exceeds an unspecified amount than taxes would be raised automatically. Not only does this evade the central issue that the country is spending more than it’s earning it appears to me to be in violation of the Constitution that specifies only Congress can raise taxes.

I can only conclude that the people we have elected to run our country are either deluded or deliberately spending us into bankruptcy. They don’t want to face the reality of simple economics and ignore the social and economic controls in our Constitution. In truth I fear for the future of my children and their children, they will be justified in cursing my generation and the evil we have left them.

Spiders

My Lady doesn’t like spiders in any form or fashion, especially if they are indoors. Over the years I’ve learned that if I hear the sound of sharply indrawn breath it is time for me to don my white knight armor and go spider hunting. She has good reason to fear the eight legged buggers and I do my best to keep her safe, comfortable and spider free. But there are times when spiders actually can be a good thing. Take the situation in Pakistan.

The record flooding in that country in 2010 disrupted the lives of some 20 million people and there are still areas of the country that have yet to dry out. With more than a fifth of the country flooded it seems that spiders climbed into the trees to escape the water and survive. Because the water took so long to recede the trees became literally covered with spider webs as the little bugger competed for food.

But with all that web building it appears that it is also a blessing in disguise. In the area of flooding the number of malaria spreading mosquitoes has plummeted and fewer than expected cases of malaria have been reported. I’m also sure My Lady appreciates that the hungry arachnid are on the opposite side of the globe.

Religion

It’s unfashionable to talk about religion, for the most part because a small percentage of people seem to be embarrassed discussing their concept of faith and they have persuaded all the rest of us that talking about religion might “insult” or “bother” the few of use who are unsure of our feelings about religion.  But I think the majority of people I know are comfortable with their world view of why we exist and what the purpose of life is. In some cases the concept of faith might not mirror any of the organized religions but it’s something the individual takes comfort in and doesn’t want to force on others.

Perhaps the best measure of any religion is a belief system that allows others to ask questions and doesn’t mind the fact that those others might view the world in different terms. Recently the creators of a TV show called “South Park” put together a musical stage show called “The Book of Mormon” that depicts Mormon missionaries and even the prophet Joseph Smith in less than complimentary fashion. I think it’s important to note that the LDS church did not boycott, or picket the show and the press reviews even indicated that faithful Mormons had travelled far in order to see it.

I think the Muslim community would react very differently if an entertainment were put together called “The Koran”. A gesture of disrespect in Florida, indeed a stupid gesture of disrespect in Florida led Islamic mobs in Afghanistan to murder UN workers who were innocent of any wrongdoing and only were there because they wanted to help.

So while I’m comfortable in my faith and I wish you comfort in yours I cannot understand those who treat even the slightest disrespect as potentially lethal to an ancient but very troubled religion.