Suicide Notes- an excellent article on suicide. July 9, 2008

Well, the only purpose of this post is to present and share with you the wonderful article I read in the magazine section of New York Times. Not only it is very beautifully written but also it is informative and points towards some of the common myths about suicide, the prominent being that there is not much we can do for people who are intent on committing suicide. Most suicide attempts reach ”completion” because the dark impulse of a suicidal mind meets ease and convenience of the method of ending one’s life.

Another theme of this article that is not really pointed out is that some places act as hypnotic traps for a suicidal mind. The Golden gate bridge in San Francisco is given as an example. I have read an excellent book by Tom Hunt called ”Cliffs of despair” that explores Britain’s Beachy head chalk headlands as such spot that lures suicidal people from all over the country.

Here’s the article from The New York Times,

”The Urge to End It All”

What is so special about Nights? November 10, 2007

Ok, this might be a temporary post. I hope many people can read it during this weekend and may try to give their opinion.Here I ask a very stupid question that a kid might ask. But then I also know that no question is really stupid. Besides I don’t seem to find any answers for this one.

 

Q- Why nights are always linked with parties and social events? Why there are always nights out, special dinners, events, concerts, going to movies, parties of all sorts at night? Why not day? I mean, weekend is free for everyone and, generally, people always love sun light and the brightness of daytime, whereas night is often (generally) associated with ‘’sin”, crime, death, gloom etc. But then why days pale before dark nights when people want to relax, have fun, be adventurous or just want a soiree?

 

Any answers? What are your thoughts or feelings about it? Enlighten me.

Jerry Falwell finally lands in his own ”Heaven” May 15, 2007

erry Falwell finally lands in his own ”Heaven”.

Picture: Jerry Falwell… Do you see that little box way up in the heavens? One day I wish to spend eternity up there and I want all of you to follow me.

Death will get ya in the end all ye poor and rich, black n white, sinners and saints. Yeah, one recurrent bunch of themes of my blogs is about religion, politics, ethics, freedom of thought and conscience. Anything significant that happens in these spheres gets my attention. Also, I am surprised to find how some folks have done great satirical comedy on religious dogmas. I recently watched Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. The genre is classic Python absurdist comedy. At times it is hilarious and outrageous (young kids, male and female, singing chorus about condoms, God and sperm) but it conveys its central message in a much better way than Richard Dawkins etc.

Now, I just got news that Jerry Falwell has finally gone to his heaven, at least theoretically. I am not going to do a little biography of him. Can’t be bothered or even interested. He was one fundamentalist Christian preacher and proponent with all the hellfire and judgment talk. Indeed many Christians must hold him in angelic bright light but the likes of him make me puke. I find this breed- sort of Western Christian Taleban- very distasteful, corrupt, sleazy, selfish, malicious and evil people who prey upon the weak and resort to demagoguery of the cheapest sort to advance their holy careers.

What is most unpleasant about them is that they use their own personal agenda and promote their own careers by using ‘God’. Prominent part of this unpleasantness is their own reeking hypocrisy. Take Ted Haggard’s example. He was the head of the 30-million strong National Association of Evangelicals and strongly held on to fundamentalist Christianity, inerrancy of Bible and condemnation of homosexuality. But alas, in his own life he enjoyed gay sex, drugs and used to employ the services of male prostitutes. Hmmmm.. I cannot say, because of his personal choices, he was an evil man (he certainly did have some ideals and was a good leader in other ways) but his hypocrisy makes him a baddie. But how did Christians treat him? Did they show any FORGIVENESS ? Nope, they kicked him out of all leadership positions. He is too dirty for them now (though he is genuinely repentant) and cannot be made clean with either the water or the blood.. Haaaa.. Too Sad.

Another local example (Christchurch, New Zealand) was of one Graham Capill, the former leader of the New Zealand Christian Heritage party. He was a strong moral crusader and spat fire when talking about sexual morals and homosexuality (sure, the classic fag bashing is always the easiest thing to score plenty of moral points.) But alas, Capill had libido problems. But it was not that bad… he may still go to heaven because he did not take part in sodomy like that Ted American bastard mentioned in the above paragraph. He only made love to several young women, between the ages of 8 to 12. Interestingly, he maintained that at least one girl had sex with him with her own consent…. Hmmmmmm…

Anyhow, Coming back to Jerry Falwell.

Here are his holy remarks as published in Wikipedia:

Falwell was a controversial subject for his theological, political and social beliefs. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Falwell said on the 700 Club, “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’” (a sentiment with which Pat Robertson concurred). ^[28] After heavy criticism, Falwell apologized. ^[29]. As for homosexuality, Falwell remarked, “AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals.” Falwell’s ghostwriter, Mel White, said Falwell remarked about gay protesters, “Thank God for these gay demonstrators. If I didn’t have them, I’d have to invent them. They give me all the publicity I need.”^[30]

During the Civil Rights Movement Falwell was a supporter of racial segregation. He said this about Martin Luther King: “I do question the sincerity of people like the Reverend Martin Luther King…”^{[citation needed]}

Falwell has also said, “Labor unions should study and read the Bible instead of asking for more money. When people get right with God, they are better workers.”^[31] Regarding public schools, “I hope to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we don’t have public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them.” (America Can Be Saved!, Sword of the Lord Publishers, Murfreesboro, Tenn. 1979, p. 52-53.)^[32]

I am so thankful to God that Jerry Falwell was airlifted by the angels to be carried to his own heaven. Good riddance.

Obituary of a ‘crazy’ girl (I knew before she was born) and thinking about Jesus April 29, 2007

Weird blog title huh? But I just got the news in an email that ”Blue Saphire” passed away. The ‘crazy’ girl of 16 was playing/cooking at the stove and it burst, giving her serious burn injuries. She was hospitalized and died in the hospital on the third day. Strangely, she kept talking crazy and funny/wise things on her death bed to the relatives, family friends and other visitors.

 

Flashback (About 17 years back in Asia) I was around 10! I have a stunningly accurate memory for most days of my childhood. I remember a lot from the age of 3 or 4! So, I remember. I was 10 and with my mother, in the kitchen of some distant family friends. A very poor family, in the countryside. A woman in that family was pregnant for the 3rd time and had two daughters already. All these women were talking about her pregnancy and I was lost in my own daydreams. I always have had the talent for making unwelcome, out of the blue remarks. I wonder what struck me that day but cutting everyone’s conversation I yelped, ”Mom!!! This time when the baby girl comes out we’re gonna name her ”Blue Saphire!”

 

Before I could see a stinging slap burned my cheek. ”What the fuck!” I thought and almost whispered it (yep I was a precocious swearer). The pregnant woman was laughing and said, ”O please leave him alone, he didn’t mean it.”. My mother had slapped me out of extreme embarrassment I caused her. In that culture and countryside region, during that time, a girl child was considered a curse and a burden: a misfortune for the family. People only wanted a son , not daughter…not the third one, in any case! So, I had actually said something like a bad curse. (What the fuck???, I wonder even now)

 

But…well, God vindicated me as a baby girl was born within next few months. As a further vindication, she was named ”Blue Saphire”. I was always proud of the fact that even at the age of 10 I was able to suggest a pretty name that was happily accepted by a family as the name of their kid. But this girl was different. She was born with mental abnormalities which made her ”crazy”. She was always doing goofus things and giggling and cackling. She was a great entertainment for us kids. She always did loony things: played in the mud when her mom had just changed her into newly washed clothes, wore her clothes inside out or backside forward, she always broke the pencils when she wanted to sharpen them and then throw them away and cackle. A crazy girl with dirt on her clothes and smile on her face. She loved it so much when people called her crazy. She laughed.

 

I never had any personal relation with her but only noticed her as I used to play with other kids. One day her family visited our house in the city. And there she was: the crazy girl with a couple of other kids. I was 17 and she was about 7 or 8. I was really into watching WWF (Wrestling) and I loved slamming (on the bed) all the little kids I could get my hands on. I grabbed Blue Saphire and slammed her. She pleaded, ”Brother don’t slam me, it hurts.” I grabbed her again and slammed her on the bed imitating a baddie. She said, ”Please please don’t hurt me.” I grabbed her on her shoulders and mockingly stared at her. Her nose was running and she had all this gooey snot oozing out. Suddenly, she had some kind of power over me. I felt this great affection for her. I gently patted her cheeks and got a handkerchief and carefully wiped her nose and face. She smiled at me. I have never done this for a kid all my life to this day!

 

Blue Saphire was also capable of extreme affection for her other sisters and one younger brother and heaps of cousins. She cared deeply. I think she understood love better than many of ’sane’ folks. She had a goofy mind but talked like a 50 or 60 year old because she was always memorizing the conversations of these old women she used to play around. In the email my mother wrote, ”She was talking crazy but sweet even on her death bed. She said to your brother who spent considerable time in her hospital room, ‘God will give you a long life dear brother because you have taken such good care of me.”’And then she died on the third day.

 

Call me crazy too, but just 4 or 5 days back I was thinking of her! Not for any particular reason. I never had any contact with her (or any interest in her really) for years and years. Last time I saw her was when I was a kid myself playing with other kids. That’s all. But still she popped into my mind and I remembered her sweet smiling face and thought, ”Mmmmm…. Blue Saphire..So, weird I named her, ehhh… She was crazy but so HAPPY unlike me.”

 

But she ended up doing yet another powerful thing for me today. For some reason, I was (and am) thinking of God (having grown quite ‘Agnostic’ lately) and Jesus, who I am sure (if he was walking through that countryside) would lift Blue Saphire up in his arms and play with her. They would both laugh like crazy.