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| The Tetons |
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| The Tetons again |
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| Closer to YNP |
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| Just a beautiful field |
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| Looking ahead to the Park |
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| Bald eagles...this was a 'drive-by' picture. |
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| Lots o' water |
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| This gives you an idea of the flooding going on everywhere in MT/WY |
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| Bison! |
...I came to the stunning realization that no sane person ever thinks that he’s a “bad person.” Evil always works through lies: The only way any of us ever does bad things is by concocting rationalizations to explain to ourselves why our actions are actually good. And thus, the only difference between being a good person and a bad person is the number of lies you allow yourself to believe.
Suddenly, I wasn’t so smug at this part of the Lord’s Prayer anymore. I began to see that I had rationalized away my own bad behavior countless times over the years. And whenever I prayed the words about “those who have trespassed against us,” I was struck with the humbling knowledge that I was one of the “those” in someone else’s prayer.For myself, this goes back to the reflection a few weeks ago from Adoration, about being told, "You are not as witty or funny or as smart as you think you are, and other people don't love you as much as you love you."
A popular Irish pianist of the nineteenth century, so the oft-told story goes, lay dying far from home in another country. Those who were with him concluded that it was time to call in a clergyman, but they weren't sure of his religious affiliation. So they asked him: "Are you a Catholic or a Calvinist?" His answer - and his final declaration before he died - was firm: "I am a pianist." ...
In their final hours many Catholics have demonstrated much the same kind of focus on their personal vocation, whether religious or secular. What has occupied their thoughts for a lifetime not suprisingly occupies their thoughts at death. ...
The last words in all these scenes spur us to give ourselves passionately and faithfully to the task before us. In that way we too can pray to our heavenly Father at the end of life, as Jesus did, "I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do" (John 17:4).Blessed Pope John XXIII (1881-1963), who summoned the Second Vatican Council, spoke to his family members gathered around his deathbed: "Do you remember how I never thought of anything else in life but being a priest?"
To forgive, however, is not to be a doormat. A doormat says, “That you hurt me is okay.” The martyr says, “I’m in agony that you hurt me, I’m in sorrow for you and the world, but I’m not going to return violence for violence.”
Just as Christ blew apart for all time the old “law” of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, he also blew apart all notion of counting the cost, hedging our bets, playing things close to the vest. To forgive is not to let someone off the hook—this time. To forgive is not to be outwardly “nice” and inside to plot vengeance. To forgive is to open our arms and heart wide, to remain woundable—as Christ did on the Cross.I'm going to quote again from Facing Forgiveness by Sofield, Juliano, Aymond:
Forgiveness is a decision, an act of the will. Forgiveness is not an emotion. It is a choice to let go of the desire for revenge or to harm someone who has caused us pain.For myself, the first step in forgiveness was to stop wishing that person was in agony or tortured or in hell because of what they did to me. It was an act of the will to stop actively wanting them to 'burn in hell' for their actions. Every time I thought of or was reminded of their actions, I would stop myself from wishing harm upon them. It was the process of starting to take some anger out of my life, to stop projecting it to another person. It was not an easy process, by any means.
A Florida couple will receive $4.5 million after winning a wrongful birth lawsuit claiming their son, born with no arms and one leg, should have become a victim of abortion. They complained the doctor in the case should have detected the physical disabilities before birth and suggested an abortion.
Ana Mejia and Rodolfo Santana filed suit in regards to the birth of their son Bryan, who is now a happy three-year-old boy. They asked a Palm Beach County Circuit Court jury for the money to be able to raise their son by requiring a Palm Beach Gardens obstetrician and the medical company she works for to pay $9 million towards the costs of his upbringing and damages for their pain and suffering.How many more years before that kid isn't happy any longer because he finds out that his parents say he should have been aborted?
During the two week trial, Mejia and Santana both indicated they would have opted for an abortion had they known the severity of the physical disabilities of their son. They claimed the ultrasound tech at OB/GYN Specialists of the Palm Beaches and Perinatal Specialists of the Palm Beaches did not take proper ultrasounds that could have established the problems as the pregnancy unfolded.
“They went from the heights of joyous expectations to the depths of despair,” their attorney Robert Bergin told the jury in closing arguments Wednesday, according to the newspaper. “Ana and Rodolfo Santana know their mental anguish and their emotions are not important. The only thing that will help make up for their mental anguish is to know Bryan’s life plan is fully funded.”So why not just kill the kid right after he was born, you know, kind of like the Canadian woman did and got away with it? They could have just claimed that they were too mentally anguished to allow him to live a life of suffering.
He argued the couple rejected an amniocentesis that could have detected the problems, but the couple said they did so because of the 1 in 500 chance of a miscarriage that could occur as a result.But you see, if he would have been a perfect baby, then they wouldn't want him to die!
“I hope when little Bryan grows up he never Googles himself or his parents. I can’t imagine the horror when he reads that his parents wish they would have killed him,” he said. “I wonder how quickly he will grasp that his parents think his life, since he has disabilities, isn’t worth living. I wonder if that jury considered how the disabled community would feel if they knew that a jury awarded these parents millions because they missed the opportunity to abort their disabled son.”Oh, I'm sure that without conversion of heart, these parents will remind their son every damn day what they go through in having him as a son.
“It perpetuates the myth that life is not worth living if you have a disability and indicates a chillingly utilitarian view of personhood,” she said. “Children are not commodities and we cannot dispose of them when they fail to meet our expectations, either in appearance or ability. This view safeguards life and prevents the callous and barbaric treatment of those born, or about to be born, with disabilities.”Did people think that if it was 'just' Down's Syndrome babies being aborted (at a rate of 90%), it wasn't going to 'spread' to other disabilities?
There was an elderly woman whose son had died in New York. She never responded to any of the solicitations about the settlements, failed to return any of the paperwork, and wouldn’t so much as take a phone call from Feinberg’s office.
As the deadline loomed to file for funds in late 2003, Feinberg personally paid her a visit. He remembers driving deep into Brooklyn, down a modest street to a small apartment house, and climbing stairs to where she lived. She met him at the door.
They sat at her kitchen table as he explained that she was entitled to the money. Congress had passed the legislation. The president signed it. The average payment to a survivor would be more than $2 million.
“ ‘Mrs. Jones,’ I said, ‘the fund is going to expire,’ ’’ Feinberg recalled. “ ‘I’ll help you fill out the forms.’ ’’
He explained that virtually every family of all those killed in the attacks accepted the settlement. Most survivors needed the money to live. Of those who didn’t, many used it for charitable work in the name of their loved one. She should sign the form and do with the settlement whatever she chose, he said. She looked Feinberg in the eye and replied, “I lost my son and you’re here to talk about money?’’
He protested, telling her, “Mrs. Jones, I can’t get your son back,’’ but she was unmoved. “It broke my heart,’’ Feinberg said. “Grief can paralyze people. It was my single biggest disappointment in administering the fund.’’This man saw this woman and thought her grief was paralyzing her, that she wasn't 'allowing herself to move on.' I read this story and think that she is suffering, and no amount of money will make that go away. Grief is an utterly personal thing, and how we react and suffer and sorrow is our own journey and our own choice, and it comes and goes at no one's behest. At the same time, I think that grief can be felt at a 'corporate' level, as our country did and continues to feel after the September 11th attacks - and though each person sorrows differently, those of us who were old enough to process what was happening all feel, in a way, the same kind of 'psychic' pain.
