March 30, 2010 - Waking up...

I saw on the internet the other day where a congressman stated that if the mandate to purchase health insurance was not deemed unconstitutional by the courts, that the government would then have free reign to "mandate", order, whatever, us to purchase things we may or may not want, such as an energy saving vehicle from G(overnment) M(otors), and if we didn't do that by a certain time, they would penalize us for disobeying them.

For some reason, people don't believe they would actually do this. Then, I ask, why are they doing it now? It was passed under the guise of Health Care Reform. Now people say we have socialized medicine. No, we don't. What we have is the first step to allow government to control our lives in detail. If they can force you to do this, they can force you to do anything.

Universal Healthcare is not mandating everyone to buy health insurance. Universal Healthcare is where anyone, anyone at all, can walk into a doctors office, hospital, doc-in-a-box, wherever, and receive healthcare. It is paid for by everyone who pays taxes through the government. The government pays the doctors and nurses salaries, they don't mandate that the doctors must see people and then receive only a fraction of the cost to do so, which allows the doctors to say "we're not going to see anymore of these people."

Universal Healthcare does no allow Pharmaceutical companies to continue to gouge customers in this country while selling the same drugs to foreign customers for a fraction of what we have to pay.

No, we do not have Universal Healthcare, and we are not heading in that direction. We have government control disguised as Healthcare, and it's just the first step.

Another congressman was asked why it took four years before it took total effect. His response? Because it will take that long to create the administration necessary TO CONTROL THE PEOPLE!

Wake up, America... or we're going down for the count.

March 15, 2010

Last week we had to clean out my mother's apartment. Even though I did not have what anyone would call a relationship with her for the last several years, when she broke her hip and was operated one, the doctors informed me she would be going from rehab into a nursing home. Since there was no one else available to do it, there were certain things that had to be completed.

The fact that she had never agreed to establish a Power of Attorney for such a time as this, I stall had to do a lot of these things. The main one was finding out what was needed for her to break her lease, and then how we would go about cleaning out her apartment within a short time frame.

Being the cautious one, I tried to find out what kind of authority I had to dispose of her things. The response I received from a social worker was that no one had ever asked before, they just did it, to hire a lawyer and find out. Well, I do not have the income to hire anything or anyone, let alone a lawyer, and pay money I do not have in order to do something I really didn't want to do to begin with.

So, I just decided to do it.

The first step - have the grandsons stop by and see if there was anything they might like to have that would remind them of their grandmother when she was a tad bit more human than she had been in the last so many years.

One son lives in Maine, so he couldn't come down, so we selected several things we thought he might enjoy having and will take them to Maine with us when we go in May.

The other two came by and looked everything over. One selected a few things, the other said they had no room, but when we went through photos she had to let him see those.

During her life, mother never threw anything away in the way of clothes. My wife went through all those, selecting certain ones we would take to mother in the nursing home. One that were worn beyond their live span were tossed, and the rest went to Goodwill.

She was a photographer of sorts, had won some prizes in shows she entered, and had about 20 framed photos. Several family members took several, and we took the bulk to the nursing home, telling them if she did not want them to feel free to hang them around the home. I just did not want them trashed as they were all excellent, and beautiful photographs.

Mother was also a meticulous record keeper in her aware days. This mean I had to go through every single one of her files to determine if it needed to be kept, or could be tossed out. While going through them, I discovered photos of my father that were in excess of 100 years old, and several pictures of my mother and sister that had been buried in strange places. Had I just tossed it all out, I would have not found the pictures.

As for her furniture, it was all very well used, and so decided to call the Salvation Army. They came by and took what they wanted, most of it good, and usable. That way, someone who was not as fortunate could put these things to good use.

The thing that bothered me the most was the fact that even though mother was unable to care for herself, or make decisions in her current mental state, I still felt like I was taking apart her life, and scattering it into the winds to be blown who knows where.

It was then it struck me how pointless life was unless we could do, and did do, what we really wanted to do with it. Realizing that makes me wonder what the purpose of life is for the majority of people, myself included. History will remember the royalty, the politicians, the inventors of useful things, the scientists that created wonderful medicines, etc., etc.. But for the rest of us, no one will know, no one will care, that we were ever here.

Perhaps her photos will live somewhere for a long time, and people will wonder who she was and what was the reason she took that particular picture? One can hope, anyway.

But for most of us, with the exception of our immediate families who will remember us for a few years, the world is too big and busy to remember we were here...

So, if not for doing what we want to do, what is the point of life? And no, I'm not interested in some religious thing about trying to get to heaven... I don't believe in heaven and hell...

March 5, 2010 - The beginning of the end...

My wife lost two of her aunts this week. One, named Lula, was one hundred and three, and 6 months old. The other, Frieda, was 96 years old. We are glad that we took the time to go to the family reunions and as a result, were able to get to know both of them. Lula's philosophy was the one I hope to live by, even just starting at my age. It was simple, and powerful - If you have a problem in lfe, deal with it, and move on. During her lifetime, she buried one husband and three children. She lived alone on her farm until the age of 101.

I am in the process of cleaning out my mother's apartment. It is not a task that I find enjoyable, but there is no one else to do it. So I am, with help from my wife.

Mother broke her hip, had surgery, and is currently in rehab. From there, she will go right into a nursing home. The fact she is still alive while I go about disposing of her past life is disconcerting. I feel as if I am stealing things, and destroying those things I cannot keep with me, or pass out to the family. It would be easier, I suppose, if she had passed away. Perhaps then I would not feel like I am intruding on her or her space.

Also, a word of advice to all. Make sure your children have the following documents available to them for when they need them. The documents are - A will, a Living Will, and a Power of Attorney document. If these are not available, it makes trying to do what is necessary a real nightmare.