Terrorism and Hopelessness
Paul your Barista
Welcome to Willow’s weekly coffee and tea garden. My name is Paul and I’m happy to be here once again inside Willow’s home where it is nice and toasty, tending to your needs for a cuppa, and sweets. We’ve moved inside to beat the winter cold in the garden. I’d be pleased to bring a pot of whatever beverage you prefer – we have a wide range of teas and coffees to satisfy our world-wide readership. We can relax with a cuppa and calorie free electronic sweets while we discuss the affairs of the week both personal and/or worldwide. How has your week been?
Here in Canada the debate has started over whether the “terrorist” killing in Ottawa was in fact the doings of a sick young man or a terrorist. Our government continues to categorize it as a terrorist action while a great many more thoughtful sources have started a dialogue on our mental health care system. In the name of terrorism, our government has begun making laws that increase police powers and allow evidence to be held in secret. Idiots. The last time they tried that, our Supreme Court struck down the laws as unconstitutional. Besides which, how can anyone realistically make a law forever without even taking the time to understand what occurred? This jumping to action without knowledge or understanding is so typically political it is tantamount to voter pandering. Idiots again. A waste of time and energy that could be better spent understanding thesituation. Sigh.
That was my rant for the post ladies and gentlemen – Thank You for your patience. How does your government handle terrorist occurrences? (After the fact.) Do you think they could perhaps do it better? Would you like another cuppa? A sweet? It’s nice to be here in the warmth of Willow’s while looking out at the cold and rain, isn’t it?
Personally I’ve had some ups and downs this week. On the bright side, a new medication has decreased joint pain and allowed me to walk easier, safer and further. On the down side I have developed a condition called “restless legs” in dialysis which actually got so bad Friday night that I had to terminate treatment early and was left feeling like a wrung out dish rag. I have a consultation on Monday, so hopefully the doctors will be able to suggest a treatment for this problem. It actually didn’t occur to me until right now that the two may be connected – Hmmm – I’ll have to check that out. How’s your health this week – better, worse, no change? Truly good health is a gift that goes uncelebrated until it’s gone. Do you agree with that?
I was sitting outside the hospital on Friday waiting for the second half of a test that required before/after radiological imaging when an older looking gentleman sat down nearby and started a conversation. He was dressed in hospital gowns and flip-flops and seemed like a very cheerful person. There is a psych ward on the fourth floor and it is common that the patients walk around outside, providing they are stable and safe and likely to return to the ward. For this reason conversations sometimes will take surreal directions – it is best to be wary. Anyway, he indicated that he was self-admitted for suicide watch. His story was that he was at home trying to suffocate himself with a plastic bag and found it uncomfortable – the plastic entering his nose and mouth. As a result, he decided to try and invent a more comfortable way to do this and was designing a cardboard insert that prevented the plastic from bothering him while he was suffocating. He was part way through the development of the new technology when he realized just how insane that really was and called the emergency number (911 here) for help. Having told his story he wished me a good day and departed back into the hospital.
During his story the gentleman had mentioned that he had finally received his first pension cheque while in hospital. He was 61 and had recently retired. He had a lot of bills and no money. He indicated how nice it was to have money in his bank account for a change. It was impossible to ignore the correlation between his lack of money and the attempted suicide in his story. He seemed in decent physical health and was cheerful and well spoken. And he had lost his will to live. Any thoughts? Have you ever met someone like this? It was the first time I had had such a conversation and it was thought-provoking for me.
Would you like another cuppa? I think I’ll have a sweet as well. Willow and I are honored that you dropped by today to visit. I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and the conversation and please feel free to look around at Willow’s other posts while you’re here. Have a great week. We look forward to seeing you here in the garden again next week.
IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE: I would ask you if you would like another cuppa, or another cake . ! If we were having Coffee Original idea from http://parttimemonster.wordpress.com/
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