Greening Death |
Monday Jan 04 2010
Tagged with: death death-care eco-burial
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Monday Aug 10 2009  By Jim Selman | Bio
This has been a sad week. My partner’s mother died at the age of 94. Even when the end is expected (and perhaps even welcomed after a long period of decline), it nonetheless has a powerful impact on those who cared. All of the clichés aside, there just isn’t much to say to the bereaved other than “I am sorry for your loss.” As we get older, death and dying becomes a larger part of our day-to-day reality as we lose friends and loved ones. For “Mimi”, there weren’t many left. She outlived almost everyone of her generation. [Read More]
Tuesday Jun 30 2009 I remember a Harvard Lampoon edition of the New York Post back during the cold war. At the top of the page, ½-inch letters proclaimed the headline: “Russia drops the Big One—World War III Declared”. Right below the enormous NY Post-style 6’’-wide banner was the headline “MICHAEL JACKSON DIES”. It was funny then, but it is not so funny now that he has, in fact, like Elvis before him, become a force of history. I am reminded of the Lampoon as I watch the round-the-clock all-channel coverage following Michael Jackson’s death. It seems to me he is getting more airtime than Sammy Davis, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra all put together. Who else could have pushed the Iranian election crisis to the back burner?[Read More]
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action Tagged with: death legacy michael_jackson service
Tuesday Jul 22 2008 The Japanese Labour Board ruled earlier this month that the death in January 2006 of a 45-year-old senior Chief Engineer on the Toyota Camry Hybrid Project was "karoshi" (death by overwork). He had been working more than 80 hours of overtime a month, including evenings and weekends, and making frequent business trips overseas. He died of a heart attack the day before he was to travel to the Detroit Auto Show to promote the hybrid car. Toyota has issued a statement that it would step up efforts to monitor the health of its workers. Japan recognized karoshi in 1987, and has been logging instances ever since of healthy men in their 20s and older dying suddenly from heart attacks and strokes brought on by overwork. The practice of "voluntary overtime" is an established practice in Japanese society, one that is coming under increasing scrutiny. Just a few months ago, a Japanese court ordered the government pay compensation to the widow of another Toyota employee who died of heart failure in 2002 after working more 80 hours of unpaid overtime per month.[Read More]
Wednesday Feb 13 2008  By Rick Fullerton | Bio
For much of my life, I have had a private conversation about dying. It began as a young child, probably triggered by overhearing my parents talking about people fighting cancer or other scary diseases. When I was 12 and our family doctor knocked on the schoolroom door, my first thought was that he had figured out I was going to die. I was shocked to discover he had come to tell me my father had died of a heart attack at just 53. I was devastated![Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging Tagged with: commitment death duty dying fear
Saturday Dec 29 2007 There’s a place near Fort McLeod in Alberta that goes by this odd name…the Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump world heritage site …where the indigenous peoples used to lead the buffalo to jump off a cliff. A place where there’s a very finite line between life and death…and where life comes from death. You see, for thousands of years, the native people would use this natural geographical formation to ‘harvest’ these wild animals and feed their tribes each winter. I’m remembering this place today because I’ve been reminded—not so subtly by being in a car accident—that life is the dash between birth and death.[Read More]
Written by eldering at Learning
Tuesday Jul 31 2007 [Read More]
Written by Jim Selman at Wisdom in Action
Wednesday Jul 25 2007 [Read More]
Written by Jim Selman at Learning
Tuesday Jul 17 2007 [Read More]
Written by Jim Selman at Wisdom in Action Tagged with: boomer death love narcissism
Tuesday Jul 10 2007 
My father and I drove from Arizona to the Northwest last week and we
are now enjoying a relaxed week together along with my daughter and her
husband. I am grateful for the opportunity to spend whatever time I can
with family. I think that, as we get older, our appreciation for our
children and parents expands. At the same time, I can also see that I
can become ‘stuck’ in a kind of ‘family-get-together-pattern’. Not that
this is bad, but it is different than how I might normally spend a week
at home and we definitely have different conversations than I have with
my friends. I am certain this has more to do with me than my father or daughter, but it is interesting to see that I feel ‘less myself’ when I am in this setting. Let me give you an example. I never watch TV at home or even when I am traveling, except for the occasional movie or news show. We’ve been watching TV a lot these last few days. On one level, this seems to me to be taking away from our time together and on the other hand, that is just how we’re spending some of our time. Another example is in a conversation about social policy, I find that I am not only less logical and articulate than I might normally be, but I also ‘walk on eggshells’ to avoid strong disagreement. Mostly I feel powerless and frustrated that I can’t persuade them or at least have them acknowledge the validity of my arguments. Shame on me! [Read More]
Written by Jim Selman at Wisdom in Action Tagged with: conversation death family relationship wisdom |
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