Sarah Murnaghan's Lesson

Sarah Murnaghan and Parents

Of course we all want Sarah Murnaghan to get a new set of lungs and live.  We want everyone on that transplant list to get transplants and live.  Yes, there are real human lives at stake.  

Perhaps the lesson here is really about viability for transplanting adult lungs into a child--if viable--then equal access for youth and adults alike depending on their severity number.  I know it is not that easily done.  Many differ on the viability issue.  Should lungs be given, for example, if we know they will only last a youth an extra year?  A transplant to wait on a transplant....

The current buzz is to avoid medical panels to make these decisions.  But really--do you want a judge or a medical panel?  God bless Sarah to get her transplant and everyone else to get theirs.  That can only happen if WE step up and put our own names on our licenses to be donors.  For example, you can give a blood sample and be on the list as a potential bone-marrow donor list.  

We see in Sarah the face of human need--ultimately depended on others to live.  That's the lesson for us on any level--ultimately dependent, just the way we came into this world. 

Washington Nationals Lesson

Jayson Werth

Jayson Werth and a Worth-while Lesson

The Washington Nationals have never once called me for my opinion.  But that does not keep me from spouting it!   I've been reading a lot of criticism lately about the Nats and their policy to allow players say-so about playing after injuries.  Each example made the same point--the player misdiagnosed the injury, came back too soon, and made matters worse. It's also bad business for multi-million dollar investments.  No wonder other teams like the exemplary Atlanta Braves have a trainer and management veto rule.  You play when we tell you.  That does not mean that players aren't consulted--of course they are.  It means management and not players make the final decision.

 

This is more than baseball.  A lot more.  How well do we know ourselves to take ourselves out of the game and to know when to start up?  If we want to listen to examples above, the best advice is to get advice.  What are the warning signals to get to the doctor?  (Do you need to find every rest-stop on the interstate to know the signs of diabetes--like I did?  Well, that was before my annual physicals and maybe I should have gone sooner, huh?) Or, when
do we take a day off, visit with others, and listen to our own stories? What do those stories tell us about who we are?

This story is so old and known--but here goes:  the man was chopping for weeks to get firewood. It became impossible for the axe to cut the wood.  So he turned the axe around and used the blunt end!  It is one thing to wear down and out.  It is quite another to know what to do about it--and to do it soon. 

Golden Rule Rewrite

It's all really very simple.

You don't have to choose between being kind to yourself

and others. It's one and the same.

                                                   Piero Ferrucci
                                                       Italian Philosopher and Psychotherapist

That's a take on the Golden Rule.  Be kind to others and you are kind to yourself.  Be kind to yourself and you will be kind to others.  A tautological.... A dog chases the tail!  What's missing is the standard, the scale for kindness.  In Ferruci's world, the standard is yourself.  Now, how far do we have to go into the sick world of addiction to know that the addict's definition of kindness to self sure isn't kindness to others.  You get the point.  We need alot more here.   

 

 Here’s the standard for  Jesus.  First you love God.  Then, based on that love, you love your neighbor as yourself.  On those two standards, everything in life depends.  God first, however, and the love given God is the standard to love others—for themselves without condition. The way to kindness for our neighbor is so well depicted below.  The image of the cross which "crosses" the chasm between us and neighbor--sharing God's love with others.  For Christians, that's "the Way" from the Father to our neighbors.  In so doing, we must first commit ourselves to that "Way:" of life. 

Would You Eat in this Joint?

Ebb Tide Restaurant, Boothbay Harbor, ME 

 Read these two reviews....Would you eat here?

Review #1:  I went here thinking this place would be so good looking at these reviews....boy was I wrong. I have never seen bacon so thin and tiny... pancakes were 1 inch thick and tasted like rubber and they were undercooked... my husband ordered a western omelet and what he got was raw onions and peppers shoved into eggs that were still runny. People who rated this place 4 or 5 stars do not know what good food tastes like.

 

Review #2:  OK boys and girls...from where ever..I have been going to EBBTIDE Boothbay since 1956!..there is not a place on this blessed country that can beat their food. Breakfast/Lunch dinner - every EVERYmoutfull is a banquet!!. Lobster stew is the best EVER!. yes yes yes the sitting is sparce...but perfect..and the DESSERTS will blow away any idea you have of PIES!....I go there all the time...just to bring my pallette back up to PAR!!.....So forgetabout all the stupid reviews..This place is for eating. GOOD GREAT FOOD. (ps..I live in the Greater NYC area...SO THERE!!) Get there..and eat yourself into HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What It Comes Down To...

It comes down to your risk factor.  Are you the kind who reads the reviews before you go out strolling in a new town?  Or, are you the type who can eyeball the menu, the appearance, and give it a try?  The point is that there are some folks who have a clear, definite idea of what and how they want it.  Others go with the flow, and it is not a disaster if it does not work out.

I've got to wonder if the first reviewer read the reviews first and was then disappointed---or do you suppose that the reviewer went back to pan the place on the reviews and discovered to his shock that everyone disagreed with him--and had to add that jab, "nobody knows good food who liked this place!" 

So it comes down to your own likes or dislikes and living with them.  What does it matter if anyone else agrees or disagrees?

Now the REAL Story!

 

Okay, I love this place for many reasons--near the top of the list is that breathe in Maine as you sit in the wooden benches around polished wooden tables.  You hear the local accents as coffee mugs never run dry. And yeah, the food is great too!  Who says you go to a restaurant for just the food, anyway? Some of my very best meals came when the boys were little, we were just starting the Boothbay vacation--and they devoured the pancakes, eggs/bacon and those homemade blueberry muffins---Oh my so good in so many ways.  I still feast on those memories. And it does not depend on anyone agreeing with me! 

Saving Private Ryan!

June 6, 1944
Who Was Really Saved on the Beaches 
of Normandy?  

Captain Miller: James Francis Ryan of Iowa?
Private Ryan: Yes, sir. Paton, Iowa, that's correct. What is this about?
Captain Miller: Your brothers were killed in combat.
Private Ryan: Which - Which ones?
Captain Miller: All of them.
[Being told he can go home]
Private Ryan: Hell, these guys deserve to go home as much as I do. They've fought just as hard.
Captain Miller: Is that what I'm supposed to tell your mother when she gets another folded American flag?
Private Ryan: You can tell her that when you found me, I was with the only brothers I had left. And that there was no way I was deserting them. I think she'd understand that.


 I sat in nearly the first row to see Private Ryan saved, and it was so realistic, I ducked for cover as bullets flew over my head. The voices raised from the beaches were painful to hear.  Behind this movie was the classic, The Longest Day, with its star studded cast.  Tom Hanks and Matt Damon were enough to carry off the modern remake with its special individualized focus of one soldier out of  the 160,000 troops landing along 50 miles of beach from 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft? That's the contribution of the Ryan movie--to give you that personalized glimpse.  Longest Day did it well by zooming in on a few soldiers and key people, as if to expose the critical nerves in the one armed body set to sweep Europe. 


 Standing behind the entire invasion was one man alone--Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.  He alone made that terrible and most difficult order of men to their deaths and nations to liberty.  The point is probably the same--the courage to make the call upon which all of our lives now stand in liberty. The weather had been awful.  How do we now use our freedom?  Every day in many ways we make the call for how we use the time bestowed upon us by those brave soldiers.  Will we at least stop this day and pray with thanksgiving for the gift of their lives and the freedom to live ours?

A Prayer of Sacred Remembrance and Thanksgiving

Gracious God, teach us to number and measure our days by your grace.  Remind us of the sacrifices paid on the beaches of Normandy for all people on this very day in our lives. Send your Spirit upon us and make us worthy to live in freedom, never to rest until all people enjoy its liberty, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen+

America's Greatest Answer

The Field of Surrender for the Army of N, VA

The Only Answer:  Honor

Of course we know Appomattox, VA as the place where Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to begin the ending of the Civil War.  We have that story down pat right to the bricks of Appomattox Courthouse where it happened.  But do we know the real story and one of the most deeply moving scene from American History?

On this small stretch of land, there is a historical marker which details the surrender of the actual army and the honor bestowed on them by Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of 20th Maine fame at Gettysburg.  Read it!

On April 12, 1865, Union Brig. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain watched the distant ridge as the Confederates prepared for the surrender. They formed into column, marched into the valley, then up the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road toward the village. As the column approached this knoll, Chamberlain ordered his men to honor them. The Federals snapped to “carry arms” – the “marching salute.”

A surprised Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon instantly ordered his men to return the salute. Until now, the drama at Appomattox had been played out by major figures. But here was a profound expression of respect by the armies’ common soldiers. They, more than anyone else, would blaze the path to reconciliation in the years that followed.

Gen Gordon on left--Gen. Chamberlain on right

In his memoirs, Chamberlain recorded that "these were Americans surrendering and it needed to be done with dignity."  Historians squabble over whether Chamberlain was ordered to do so by Grant or if he just did it spontaneously.  For those who know the true spirit  of Chamberlain--it was true to his patriot blood.

Just my opinions....And where exactly is that spirit in American politics?  In the halls of Congress?  Between the President and his opposition?  I often wonder if the tie that binds no longer holds us together under the same flag until we are attacked or suffer natural disaster. 

Mack loves JESUS!

"I LOVE JESUS!" 

So I am traveling down the interstate--and what do my wondering eyes appear to see--but a plumber's van with the giant lettering across the back--"I LOVE JESUS!"  Now, I am happy for Mack, really, because there are alot of folks confused about what they do love and where their allegiances lie.  That funny turn of phrase is important--where "allegiances LIE."  For there are people with strong allegiances and later out in life they discover to their horror that they have been lied to, falsely aligned.  Many an ardent believer in Jesus feels betrayed when the world does not work out the way they think it should --  because they loved Jesus, well now, it should have been different they say.  "If he had really loved me, well then this would not have happened." 

We don't know Mack's story.  We only know that he was convicted enough to paint up his van and broadcast to the world.

There were 10 lepers cured by Jesus.  Only one returned to thank Jesus.  Do you suppose that he painted up his truck, took out a billboard, or sent out blast emails--I LOVE JESUS?  I am not being facetious. Those who go through such miraculous cures do tend to broadcast their stories--it is just that in this case, the one leper attributed the act to Jesus and thanked him.

Back to Mack.  I am happy for him.  I just hope he shows his gratitude beyond his lips to the works of his life.  "O Lord, grant that the words we say with our lips we may live in our lives...." goes the benediction.  And let us do so with gratitude.