Insights from A Parting Gift

          Recently, I read the story, A Parting Gift, included in the Reader’s Digest Condensed Books, vol. 4, 1982 ed. It was recommended to me by my sister and I was surprised many people know about it. My sisters told me it’s a very inspiring and tear-jerking story and true enough, I appreciated it so much. As written in the first page, it is a profoundly moving story of a dedicated pediatrician and of a courageous little boy who left a… A Parting Gift.

          The story put me in a state where I’ve made my own insights about many things: life in general, that it is indeed a gift, how short it could be for some of us, how grateful we should always be, for our health and having the opportunity to appreciate it… and on the other hand, about doctors, how hard it is to be in charge or in control of someone else’s life. Dr. Sharkey succeeded in her effort of writing her own experiences and insights about all these things. She was humble enough to share her thoughts and feelings about issues of death and dying. In most of her writing, she cited the influence of Elizabeth Kubler Ross. One point I like that she wrote about was this sense of “failure” doctors feel in terminal cases. For some doctors, maybe most of them, it may be a “failure” not to be able to save a patient’s life. True not only for them, I guess, but to other members of the health team. It must really be a humbling experience especially when you get attached to a patient, which others say should not be the case, talking about “professional distance”. 

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Are You Normal or Nuts?

Ever talk to yourself? Have a song stick in your head?

William Speed Weed

All right, dear reader, the truth is out. You try to pass yourself off as a regular person, with normal behaviours, but we know better. The truth is you have a few truly bizarre habits. How do we know? Well, because we all have them. Weirdness itself is normal – and makes us human. But while there’s a big fat line between Jack the Ripper deviancy and Jack the Double Dipper quirkiness, it’s not always so easy to tell the difference between that ‘’cute'’ little thing you do and a behaviour that may truly be harming you, or others. We asked some brave souls to give up their behavioural skeletons and ran them by the experts. Here’s what we found:

Question How come I can remember everything I did, said and wore when I was seven, but I can’t remember where I left the car keys this morning? Is this early senility? I’m only 40 years old!

Though some short-term memory loss is normal as we age, it usually doesn’t signal early senility. And you probably don’t actually remember everything you did, said and wore when you were seven. What you remember is a handful of outfits and maybe a dozen key episodes. This was possibly an important year for you developmentally, and you crystallised these particular events into your long-term memory by recalling them many times and telling other people about them.
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On Wisdom

Just a simple prayer to ponder…

               God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Cinderella Tickets Sold Out Already :-(

            It was a depressing experience last August 11, Monday, when I found out that tickets for the much-awaited and much-anticipated musical, Cinderella are already sold out! I was so frustrated because I even saved for it; I told myself that I would really love to watch Lea perform live for the first time. But then again there goes the sad truth… it won’t happen… there’s no more ticket to buy!

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Cancer

I’m not really a fan of My Chemical Romance but I just like the way they came up with their song Cancer. It’s well-composed and it perfectly sympathizes  with  patients who are afflicted with  the malignant disease.  When it comes to choosing my type of music, my attention is usually first caught by good melody, which is why I like listening to old, mellow songs. But now I’m beginning to appreciate the lyrics or the message of songs, vis-a-vis, the melody. Here’s the lyrics of the said song:

Turn away, if you could get me a drink of water ’cause my lips are chapped and faded…

Call my aunt Marie, help her gather all my things and bury me 

in all my favorite colors. 

My sisters and my brothers, still, I will not kiss you

‘Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you. 

Now turn away, ’cause I’m awful just to see cause all my hair’s abandoned all my body, 

Oh, my agony, know that I will never marry, 

Baby, I’m just soggy from the chemo; I’m counting down the days to go. 

It just ain’t living and I just hope you know… 

That if you say Goodbye today I’d ask you to be true

‘Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you…

In relation to the song, I have here a topic on cancer that I got from Reader’s Digest. As we all know, it’s very common nowadays, we often hear it from many sources. And just recently, a patient in the ward died of lung cancer stage IV (really there’s a lot of cancer cases in the hospital). But I guess many people still have inadequate knowledge about it, especially the symptoms. Just doing my part on health education. Read on…

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The True Olympic Spirit

These competitors teach us what the Games are really about

by William Ecenbarger

At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on August 8, a member of the Chinese team will take an oath on behalf of the 12,000 assembled athletes to abide by the Games’ rules “in the true spirit of sportsmanship.”

Sadly, a few competitors have ignored these high principles at past games with win-at-any-cost tactics, outright cheating and drug use. “There are a few bad apples who spoil the entire spectacle,” says Olympic historian John Lucas. “It is easy to forget that there are far more patriotic and high-minded athletes than there are robber barons and drug cheats.”

Indeed, since the modern games began in 1896, there have been hundreds of outstanding acts of sportsmanship - often unheralded and forgotten - that embody the Olympic ideal. Here are some of the best.
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The Dad Effect

Who knew that fathers were biologically equipped to nurture children?

by Claudia Cornwall

When Chris Lee’s wife got a job transfer from the US to Hong Kong last year, the senior project manager for a web marketing firm decided he would not work full-time anymore and would stay at home with the kids: two girls aged three and one. With his wife bringing home the bacon, Lee took the challenge of being with the kids at all times.

‘’It is definitely rewarding having a successful career in the business world where you are appreciated by employers, customers, and co-workers,'’ he says. ‘’But it is more rewarding watching the kids grow and seeing all the changes they go through on a daily basis.'’

Many fathers around the world are starting to agree with Lee. The time fathers spend with their children has increased considerably since the 1970s, experts say. Today’s dads seem a lot closer to their kids than the dads of previous generations. With these changes, fathers are suddenly a hot topic with researchers. Everything - from their sweat glands to their play habits - is under the microscope. There’s more to Dad than you knew. (more…)