All posts by anniel

HARVARD HUBRIS

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO’S THE SMARTEST ONE OF ALL?

Sandra Korn, a student at Harvard and a columnist for the HARVARD CRIMSON, has raised eyebrows over her assertion that adherence to liberalism trumps academic freedom, and Harvard should lock out those who do not agree with her. I suppose she’s getting her fifteen minutes in the limelight, but let’s look at what she has to believe in order to make such a proposition:

That Sandra Korn is the smartest woman in the world, or at least at  Harvard (which, in her mind, may be the same thing.)
That she knows everything, so no other ideas are needed.
That anyone who thinks other than she is at least her inferior, if not downright stupid, and probably evil.
That free thought and free speech should not be tolerated in academia, so Harvard must bar its doors against such folk. (I thought they already had, so this point may be moot.)
That she has the right to determine what other people think and say.

In another context I had quoted Soren Kirkegaard as follows: THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO BE FOOLED. ONE IS TO BELIEVE WHAT IS NOT TRUE; THE OTHER IS TO REFUSE TO BELIEVE WHAT IS TRUE.

Sandra seems to have put herself on the horns of a dilemma here. What she says and why she apparently believes she has the right to say it are completely illogical and profound foolishness for the following reasons:

Sandra has not told us her IQ, but it is possible that smarter people than she exist, some may even attend Harvard, or no university at all.
It is impossible that she knows everything and has no need of other ideas. What a closed mind that would be.
Very intelligent people, some way smarter than she, may very well disagree with her.
Free thought and free speech are the very essence of TRUTH and LEARNING.
What other people think and say are, frankly, none of her business. If she chooses to engage them in debate then she is obliged to remain civil.

What she says, and apparently believes, is not true and meets Kirkegaard’s first test of foolishness. Her REFUSAL to believe that free ideas and free speech are vital to academic freedom meets his second test of foolishness,

Sandra appears to be a foolish person on all counts and the horns of her dilemma are very sharp, they might even break her ego mirror on the wall.

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT:  YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.  Deuteronomy 5:9, Tanakh Version, JPS.

My goodness, is this a loaded subject or what? Not so many years ago there was universal lip service given to the importance of chastity and marital fidelity. We’re all aware this law was broken all the time but breaking it was at least publicly acknowledged to be a societal evil.

Today most people just look perplexed when such an old fashioned and repressive idea is brought up. In some circles getting married without first “sampling the wares” is unheard of. How will you know if you are “compatible” unless you live together? And even young children must not be repressed or deprived of their sexuality. It’s difficult to know where to start on this subject.

Much of our present attitudes on adultery lead directly back to the serial adulteries and sexual misconduct of William Jefferson Clinton. His “indiscretions” were never really a “private” matter. They harmed and shamed the whole nation. They certainly changed the political landscape.

Many years ago I had an argument with some (all male) co-workers about fidelity in marriage. They laughed at the idea and scoffed when I said I could say with 100% certainty that my parents always remained faithful to each other. They told me that might be true for my mother, but certainly not for my father. Then I asked, “So, you all step out on your wives when you get the chance?” All heads ducked, the squirming began and suddenly it was time to return to work. Thinking about it, I still wonder how many of them were guilty as charged, and how many of them demanded complete fidelity from their wives.

Loss of faith in either partners’ fidelity leads to emotional devastation on an epic scale. There are other ways for men and women to be unfaithful today. Pornography, telephone and cybersex have entrapped the unwary and led to alienation, distrust and divorce between spouses. I have tried to explain to people how I could forgive an act of unfaithfulness if a living, breathing human being were involved, but the idea of telephone or internet sex is absolutely revolting to me. I think it is the idea of someone indulging themselves in absolute hedonism for their own pleasure without even human contact that is so nauseating. These types of actions are strictly selfish and no emotion other than lust is involved.

The awful evil perpetrated by adults to sexualize young children, with some even condoning using them for pornography and acting as pimps for pedophiles, is beyond comprehension. Nothing remains of innocence for many young children.

What can be said for the rise of STD’s when TV ads glorify drugs that tout no harm done if you get an STD? Just take some medicine and you, too, can be out having a wonderful time with a new partner. What about AIDS? It is true that you sleep with your partner’s partners. Horror stories abound of men particularly spreading their diseases because they are too lazy or too venal to forego their anger or pleasure in any way.

Isn’t it strange that the matter which The Lord used to describe His relationship with faithless Israel is that of a Bill of Divorcement? He says that He remains faithful to the promises He has made to His faithless people and they will yet know that He is ever faithful.

THUS SAITH THE LORD, WHERE IS THE BILL OF YOUR MOTHER’S DIVORCEMENT, WHOM I HAVE PUT AWAY? OR WHICH OF MY CREDITORS IS IT TO WHOM I HAVE SOLD YOU? BEHOLD FOR YOUR INIQUITIES HAVE YE SOLD YOURSELVES, AND FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS IS YOUR MOTHER PUT AWAY. Isaiah 50:1 KJV

“. . . for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves . . .” And what do we sell ourselves for but the ever present mess of pottage.

We ought not continue to sell ourselves, nor sell our children by our own willful misconduct.

WILLFULLY CHOOSING DISHONOR

“ALL BILLS FOR RAISING REVENUE SHALL ORIGINATE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES . . . ” Section 7, The Constitution of the United States of America

Once again we as a nation are faced with the cowardice and lies of the political class and almost everyone connected with it. Is it even possible to recognize any semblance of truth coming out of Washington, D. C. or from the fools who pass themselves off as the brightest amongst us?

Harry Reid and John Boehner and the cravens who follow after them are as worthy of impeachment as is the man who calls himself president. These malignant minions don’t seem to have any gonads at all.

The court eunuch Boehner needs to face his own devil – himself. He needs to be put out to pasture post haste. The man can’t even find his way to state the facts which support his case and hates anyone who can. He seems to have totally forgotten the most important job of the House of Representatives, that of saving the nation from insolvency, and he seems to have even forgotten his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution.

Why such cowardice and dishonor? On September 30, 1938, Neville Chamberlain returned from meeting Hitler in Munich and announced that he believed his efforts meant “. . . there will be peace for our time.” A few days later Winston Churchill would say in a speech before Parliament, “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war.”

John Boehner, you chose dishonor and you have now failed everyone. None can trust you again to keep your oath for anything. Anyone who followed your lead is also guilty and will suffer the same fate.

The man who was elected President of this great nation based on ephemeral lies that appeared attractive to many, is many times over exposed for the liar he is, and none will stand against him as he continues his lazy and feckless way to destruction. Now we know where the just as lazy and feckless cowards in the Congress stand as they squander every principle of righteousness they claim to stand for.

What a shame it is that so few men stand on principle. And so this nation is led by fools and simpletons. Statesmen and oath keepers need not apply.

THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT

THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT:  YOU SHALL NOT MURDER. Deuteronomy 5:8. Tanakh Version, JPS.

The King James Version renders this as, “THOU SHALT NOT KILL.” Deuteronomy 5:17.

The days of Moses and his successors were violent. Warfare was ongoing and kings and emperors could murder and kill as they chose. So this commandment was a step towards the freedom and rights of ALL mankind.

What is the difference today between the words MURDER and KILL? To kill sounds more casual and thoughtless and murder certainly sounds cold blooded and done with intent, but the victim is just as dead either way.

In our Justice System there are different degrees of murder, with First Degree Murder being the most heinous. Second and Third Degree may have some kinds of extenuating circumstances. Then there are Manslaughter charges, voluntary or involuntary. And some charges may be based on criminal negligence, or accidental death. I’m not certain of the legal niceties here, but we seem to have a lot of leeway on charges. I choose, for now, not to address the matter of abortion and other forms of legalized murder.

Certainly we should never kill if we can possibly help it, but there are times when one must kill in order to protect the innocent or to stop direct harm to one’s own person or to another. To fail to act may be a matter of moral cowardice or just plain fear.

I think it was in CRIME AND PUNISHMENT that Fyodor Dostoyevski said there are two perpetrators to every crime, the person who commits the crime and the person who allows the crime to happen. I remember being quite incensed at the idea of “blaming the victim” for any part in the crime. We do tend towards doing that today. There are certainly no excuses for harming the defenseless, but I sometimes wonder if part of the reason it’s right to fight, and maybe even kill, is to help prevent another from BECOMING a murderer. But then there is the argument that they are a murderer in their heart already. There may be times when it is necessary to kill, but forming the intent to murder, with malice aforethought, is ALWAYS wrong. Cain murdered his own brother to get gain and God told him that he was a murderer from the beginning and placed a mark upon him. Murderers, known to man or not, are known to God and still carry a mark on their souls.

There are people who thrive on the pain of others, who enjoy murder, the people without conscience. Perhaps we will never understand them and it’s  comforting to know that God holds final judgment in His own hands.

Perhaps if we obeyed the other commandments mankind would have little need for killing and none at all for murder.

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT:  HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER, AS THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS COMMANDED YOU, THAT YOU MAY LONG ENDURE, AND THAT YOU MAY FARE WELL, IN THE LAND THAT THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ASSIGNING TO YOU.  Deuteronomy 5:7. Tanakh Version, JPS.

This was one of the hardest of the Commandments for me. When I decided to attend a church I was going against practically my entire family. My father in particular was certain that all churches wanted only your money. I had heard every argument against organized religion that he could think of, so how could I both honor him and still go against his will?

My brothers nearest me in age both laughed at me and my youngest brother and only sister would be somewhat better, but also chose other paths. My mother was the only mildly supportive person in the family. Things would change with some of them later, but in the beginning I felt very confused about the situation. I thought and prayed for a long time but still felt as though my choice was a bone of contention in the family.

One day it occurred to me that I could best honor any other person, including my father, by living the best life I could. I came to believe that someday he might be blessed by what I was trying to do. I have lived long enough now to realize that we really should HONOR our parents, and those who came before them, for giving us the great gift of life and the heritage they pass on to us. Saying that doesn’t mean that we don’t have some horrible parents out there, and it doesn’t mean that forgiveness is an easy thing. And yet the principle still holds.

Not that long ago I heard a woman speaking of her wonderful parents and what a charmed life she had as a child. Her recollections were the kind of thing that once would have made me sad, and perhaps jealous. Suddenly a feeling of complete rejection for such a life washed over me. It would never have been possible for me to have led such a life. I had forgiven my father completely, but for the first time I was actually grateful that my father and mother were who they were, and that I would never want any others.

This commandment also has blessings connected to it. One is that you may long endure in the land (the King James Version says “that your days may be prolonged”), and that you may fare well. Does that blessing still hold? Do children honor their parents anymore? What would happen if they did?

How does one change the alienation of many of our youth towards their parents, and restore the love that many of those parents once held for their young? We all need to forgive our parents at some point in our lives.

The commandments are meant to stretch our souls and humanize us. This one may be the most humanizing of all.

Anniel

GOVERNMENT GRAFT AND CORRUPTION.

KEEP YOUR HANDS OUT OF MY POCKETS.  Folk Saying

Do you remember the times in your life when you suddenly understood clearly what was going on? When your eyes opened and your ears heard and you could articulate enough to think everyone else would understand if they would just listen, but then no one did?

I was thinking about one of those times for me. It was a long time ago and one of the national TV stations was doing a report on taxation and how taxpayer funds are spent. The reporter is dead now, but I think it was Peter Jennings, the Canadian/U.S. Broadcaster who once also said that United States voters had thrown a giant tantrum when they elected Republicans after Newt Gingrich’s Contract for America caused a political earthquake.

His report detailed how much money was collected by the Government, how much was taken to run various programs, and how much went back to the states in revenue sharing. Jennings reported that 40 cents of every dollar stayed in Washington D.C. to fund the government. I’m not sure what that figure is today.

Seattle was then shown as a “typical” U.S. City and Jennings nattered on about the great things federal money had funded for the area, showing pictures of roads, bridges and buildings. Finally he, as I recall the amounts, concluded with the words, “How much money did the people of Seattle pay in taxes? $45 million dollars. And how much did they receive in revenue sharing for these projects? $45 million! So I would say the good people of Seattle got their money’s worth.”

If 40 percent of the $45 million paid in taxes stayed in D. C., that comes to $18 million that had to come out of a lot of somebody else’s pockets in order to pay for Seattle’s goodies. And Peter Jennings appeared not just to approve that, but seemed blissfully unaware that some little guy in Pioche, Nevada or Bangor, Maine might not find that such a good deal.

Is it just possible that a lot of money could be saved if the “middle men” were removed from the picture? If those funds did not get siphoned off in D.C.? If national taxes and programs were cut, and each city and state paid for their own programs and projects from local taxes? Let the arguments over paying for “Bridges to Nowhere” be conducted by the people who do or don’t need that service. Let the people who know them hold their local and state authorities accountable for their ideas and honesty. Wasn’t that the original intent of the rights retained by the states?

The fact that anything at all, both the program and the funding, can be added and passed as a rider on an unrelated bill is so disgusting we should all be outraged.

In one robs Peter to pay Paul, only Paul and his friends are happy.

A THANK YOU TO READERS

CONFESSIONS OF A TECHNOLOGY DENIER ASPIRING TO  BECOME COMPUTER LITERATE

This is both a thank-you and an explanation of my entry into the blogosphere. It has been wonderful to find some readers who have been kind about my “homilies” even though I have not known how to put my words out to be more easily found. So “THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS.” Since one is never too old to learn, I  hope to do better in the future, but some explanation for my lack of savvy is required.

I was born in 1940, so, there, I have given my age away. For the first thirteen years of my life my family lived a generally more late 19th or very early 20th Century lifestyle. Just before I turned 4 years old we moved to the country. We had electricity, which meant one bare bulb in the middle of the kitchen ceiling and once or twice a week we listened to my grandfather’s old cathedral shaped radio. There was no indoor plumbing, in fact no running water except for an artesian well just a few steps from the front door of the four room “house” we lived in. We did have a party line where the operator still said, “Number Please?” And certain neighbors always listened in.

Some of the things we took for granted seem almost bizarre today. The outhouse was dark and grim, with hairy wolf spiders and black widows in warm months. It was also freezing in the middle of winter. We heated and cooked with a wood stove, so wood had to be constantly split and chopped, and bringing in the wood meant there were all kinds of the above-mentioned spiders ready to bite. Water was hauled in on Saturday night, heated on the stove and poured into the tin tub. We were bathed according to our sex and age, which meant that I, as the only girl, at least got clean water, then the boys were bathed. We washed our hair with soap, with the final rinse having vinegar mixed in the water. We put on clean pajamas and were sent off to bed in one bedroom. How my parents then took care of their own needs I never thought about. How would they even fit in the tin tub? Hmmm. Maybe they stood up and poured water over each other? Some things were rather primitive even for the time.

On the brighter side, we were always busy with hard work and play. My parents always made sure we had things like bicycles, roller skates in summer and ice skates in winter. We were all taught to swim at a young age. I had lovely dolls and an even lovelier aunt who had only boys, so she taught me to embroider, crochet and sew.

The boys worked with my dad to build a new house. Even with the shortages and hardships of the war our father found ways to get lumber and nails (even if they were rusty or needed straightening) for construction. My brothers always had Erector Sets, Lincoln Logs, model airplane kits and new Lionel Model Train additions to their set every Christmas. We all went bird watching, horseback riding, hiking and camping. We also had both indoor and outdoor chores and chickens and other animals to care for.

One thing I always seemed to lack was any concept of future changes. We finally moved into a fairly modern house when I was 13, but I was always surprised by technological advances. The first time a B-24 flew over our house I was totally astounded. How could anything so huge fly? And when my older brother told me that someday we would be able to see movies in our own homes I wanted to beat him up for lying to me. How could that possibly be? The first time I saw a TV it scared me to death and our first Mixmaster and steam iron were incredible inventions to me.

When I married my husband, Bear, who loves technology, he concluded that he had to drag me kicking and screaming into the 20th Century, just in time for the 21st. When he bought his first high end computer, a Mac LISA, I thought he had gone completely insane. He told me it was important for our little children to learn computer skills. Why? He told me that people would one day have computers controlling their homes and businesses and we would rely on them for everything. Says who? Why would anyone even want that to happen?

Al Gore invented the Internet (!) and it grew up around me while I paid no attention at all. I got addicted to PAC-MAN, learned to do letters at work on a computer and had to admire the ease of change and correction. Before I started this blog I had used e-mail and had a personal junk file. I read Frank Hebert’s DUNE books and still didn’t understand the possibilities of the “gom jabbar.” Was that man prescient or what?

So here I am today trying to catch up to my kids and grand kids and do a blog in cyberspace on what I consider to be important things. I am learning, but I have a long way to go. Bear and I will try to make this blog become more convenient to find and follow if you so desire.

My advanced age must be one of my excuses, even though my late father-in-law and his brother bought into the computer age long before I did. Is it (mostly) a guy thing?

I’ll go now to find what an RSS thing does.

Anniel

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT:  YOU SHALL NOT SWEAR FALSELY BY THE NAME OF THE LORD YOUR GOD; FOR THE LORD WILL NOT CLEAR ONE WHO SWEARS FALSELY BY HIS NAME. Deuteronomy 5:5; Tanakh Version, JPS

What does it mean to swear falsely? Is it just a matter of lying or is it more? If you promise to do something, is that the same as swearing to do so? I don’t think one would ever “swear” a promise. If you swear to uphold or protect something it is the same as taking an oath. An oath occurs between two or more people, groups or nations, and is a symbol of an agreement or covenant. For instance, marriage is a covenant, the terms of which are sworn to before an authority of some sort. One group or nation may swear an oath to protect and defend another, or they may make a covenant of peace with each other.

An oath was once considered unbreakable and an oath breaker was the lowest of creatures. The punishment for oath breaking could be exile or even death. Adding GOD to the mix means that when you swear before HIM you are making a very serious commitment to do as you say you will.

The Third Commandment as given in the King James Translation of the Bible gives a slightly different slant to the matter. Deuteronomy 5:11 reads:
THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN: FOR THE LORD WILL NOT HOLD HIM GUILTLESS THAT TAKETH HIS NAME IN VAIN.

The word “vain” as given here would probably be considered to mean “useless”, or “of no power.” If the oath is vain it is certainly falsely given.

In an age of casual promises and lies, oath breaking seems almost quaint to consider. But in the Third Commandment God says he will not clear the person who swears falsely by His Name, or will not find him guiltless. And HIS word is eternal.

Historically in Western Society it is customary for someone taking a public oath to place their left hand on the Holy Bible and raise their right arm “to the square.” In the United States of America ALL elected and appointed members of the government place their hand upon a Holy book to swear such an oath to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution” and also covenant with the people they serve that they will uphold and sustain the law according to the Constitution.

How seriously do those who take that oath mean it? Is it just pro forma these days? Do they even consider the consequences of swearing falsely? There seem to be so many liars and oath breakers in government that one must conclude most no longer take their oaths seriously.

Even Supreme Court members, the president, congressmen and other leaders denigrate the Constitution publicly and place their own judgments above those of the Founders and the Constitution with no accountability. Once again, in their presumption, we let them sell our national birthright for a mess of pottage. They have not yet met their retribution, which is in the hands of The Lord God.

We will all stand before the Judgment Seat and answer for our own oaths and covenants.

Do not swear or take an oath you are not prepared to keep. You cannot lie to God and not pay the price.

LOST -AND FOUND – IN TRANSLATION

THE TOWER OF BABEL, THE PROBLEMS ARE STILL HERE

A friend told me of a time when his father was struggling to build an essential business in Japan and having a terrible time because the English translators didn’t seem to get the words out right. Since he didn’t speak Japanese he had no way to tell what was going wrong. He finally concluded that the Japanese were taking advantage of his lack of understanding of Japanese business practices and of the language.

He knew that Brigham Young University would have ex-missionaries who had served in Japan and learned the language so he went there and chose to hire the biggest, blondest, blue-eyed returned missionary he could find, one no one would expect to speak Japanese. He took him to all meetings but told him to just sit as though he were a go-fer and never let anyone know he could speak the language. Later he would tell the boss what was actually said at the meetings. As the boss began to understand what was really happening his business became very successful.

This story reminded me of the many questions I have had over the years about Biblical translations, and of some things that might be of interest to others about their own questions.

One of the questions that intrigues me most is the story of Lot’s wife being turned into a “pillar of salt” for looking back on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I’ve always felt that looking on that as a “punishment” for disobedience was questionable at best. Those were her children and grandchildren being incinerated back there. What mother wouldn’t look back in absolute anguish? Also, was it a commandment not to look back or a – what? Recommendation?

At any rate, I was told that the George M. Lamsa’s Translation of the Holy Bible from the Aramaic of the Ancient Peshitta Text had been translated by native Aramaic speakers into modern English. The Eastern Church says that their bible translation, the Peshitta, would be the Old Testament used at the time of Christ and the New Testament as fully preserved from the time of the Apostles. It’s easy to read and clarifies many things.

Reading the story of Lot’s wife shows a footnote that the Aramaic term “being turned into a pillar of salt” is a colloquial saying meaning to be “frightened to death.” Can’t you just see the good King James translators in England staring at their salt cellars and scratching their heads before translating it literally? (And mothers can see a kid in trouble being told, “Get out there and take care of the goats or I’ll turn you into a pillar of salt!”)

I had heard so many explanations of it being harder for a rich man to get into heaven than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle that I tuned it all out. I heard the one about there being a “camel’s gate” in Jerusalem where they would have to unload the camel, make it crawl through the gate on its’ knees and then reload it on the other side. Sounds like hard work and very inefficient. Why not just go to another gate? It would make more sense. Mr. Lamsa explains that the written word for “camel” in Aramaic has one tiny dot of difference between it and the word for “yarn” or “twine”. The verse in his translation is that it is harder for a rich man to get to heaven than to pass twine through the eye of a needle. Rich people sometimes do have a hard time holding on to their humility, but some of them do. Why should their riches condemn them?

One of the most perplexing questions I had was where Jesus tells his followers that if their right eye offends them it is better to pluck it out, or if their right hand offends them to cut it off. Every few years someone does one or both of those things. Most people know that this is figurative, but I always wondered just what it was figurative about. The Lamsa’s translation has footnotes indicating that the eye is the seat of jealousy, so that part means not to covet. As for the hand, the punishment throughout middle eastern countries was, and in some places still is, having the right hand amputated, so that injunction means not to steal.

Mr. Lamsa’s translation has answered many questions for me. But I still love the formality and majestic language of the King James Version.

There is also a book on translation called IS THAT A FISH IN YOUR EAR? by David Bellos. It has a section on bible translations and how they had to relate to the understanding of people when missionaries brought them the gospel, the “good news.” On tropical islands where the people had never seen snow, how could the term “white as snow” have any meaning? Looking around the missionaries couldn’t see anything white enough to substitute except for a bird, so they translated snow as “white as a cockatiel’s feather.”

Many of the islands are made only of sand and are very swampy, so the natives built their homes on stilts. When the translators got to the part where Jesus told of the foolish man building his home on sand while the wise man built his on a rock, they had to consider that for awhile. They finally translated that part to read that the foolish man made his stilts of soft wood (which rots in water), while the wise man built his home with hard wood.

Some people object to the translation process, but the main objective should always be greater understanding for everyone.

NATURAL MEDICAL LESSONS

“OH, I’VE GOT A LOVELY BUNCH OF COCOANUTS . . .”  Novelty Song Written in 1944 By Fred Heatherton

I have never been a big fan of natural medicine, but from time to time have taken a few “natural” remedies. For a variety of reasons I have had to rethink the entire matter, all because of coconuts and coconut oil.

When our youngest son, David, lived for a few years in Germany, he became ill and no one could figure out what his problem was. He returned home and struggled along unwilling to bother my husband and me with his problems. He married and about a year later was diagnosed by biopsy with Crohn’s Disease. His disease progressed to the point where he could barely leave the house and working was a real problem. Finally he was told that Remicade was his only option.

The only person I had met on Remicade was a teenage girl with Crohn’s who had “died” the first time she was given the drug. They had to restart her heart before treatment could be resumed and then give her other medicines so she could tolerate the Remicade. Each time she underwent treatment someone had to stand by with paddles. I was not too happy with such toxic medicine being given to my son.

My husband went on line and began researching Crohn’s. He ran across a website on coconut oil and people who claimed the oil had helped or cured  their Crohn’s, along with benefits also claimed for other conditions. He decided that it couldn’t hurt to at least try the oil and sent David a large bottle. I later asked David to detail what happened.

First of all, he never particularly liked the flavor of the oil, although I, for one, really like it. He put about a tablespoonful of the oil in a cup of hot chocolate morning and night and gagged it down. Medically he said the first three days were an absolute miracle, the diarrhea stopped almost immediately and he went to the bathroom twice on each of those three days. Then his wife made a salad with raw broccoli in it, and he was off to the races again. He learned later that tomato products also affected him. He knew the three days had worked so he continued taking the oil, and gradually got better again. He also ate coconut macaroons for a change of pace.

His progress was kind of up and down over the next several months but each relapse was not as bad and the relapses occurred further apart. Then my husband learned that coconut oil could be purchased in gel caps and sent some to David. The capsules worked much better for him. The only reason we can think why that would happen is that the capsules dissolve further down the digestive tract where the problems actually are.

By the time David had been taking the oil for just short of three years he seemed to be cured, but he waited about a year more before he got all his records and went in for a colonoscopy. The doctor in Seattle told him that if he had not seen his records and scans he would have accused him of lying about ever having Crohn’s. He showed absolutely no trace of the disease.

Will he ever quit taking coconut oil? He says there is no way he’ll ever stop, although he has cut back on his daily dose.

My husband has Parkinson’s Disease and was having trouble sleeping and had terrible leg pains at night. He decided to try coconut oil when someone on www.coconutoil.com  said it helped them sleep. It has been a real blessing for him, and he says that in addition to sleeping better it helps his leg pain and he doesn’t have “brain fog.” So I decided to take it and I, too, sleep better and have had to cut back on insulin.

Yes, we have talked to other people about the oil, but the first problem is that Americans have been absolutely brainwashed into thinking that all fats and oils are bad. Not true, but that’s another story. The second factor is that coconut oil seems “silly.” One man we know came to ask about what David had done. After I told him about the oil he grew angry and told me that was “stupid” and stomped away. He had a colostomy a few months later. Some people also want an instant cure, so they take the oil for few days and quit because “it doesn’t work.” Sometimes the simple things are the hardest to believe.

If you or a loved one would like to know more go to www.coconutoil.com  There are two great books also available. One is ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE, WHAT IF THERE WAS A CURE?, by Mary T. Newport, M.D. and the other is THE COCONUT OIL MIRACLE, by Bruce Fife, C.N., N.D.

I don’t know if it will work for any of your problems, I just know for sure it saved our son and I feel compelled to pass the knowledge along.

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT – Modern American Idols

We are slaves to the idols of our minds. — Francis Bacon

What are the idols of your mind? The answer would be different for each one of us. We are not to worship idols but to put God first and then all else falls into place. When we put anything before God we begin to stray into self delusion and slavery.

We set up idols, including celebrities and sports stars whom we worship with slavish devotion, sometimes to our own detriment. Some people worship money and possessions, even their children become objects of their worship, and also their control. The desire for wealth and fame has consumed many good people.

I once told our youngest daughter that if her dad and I ever came into real money we would not let our children know about it because we wouldn’t want to “spoil” them. She was young but wise, so she just smiled and said, “Oh, mom, don’t you think we’d figure it out?” I suppose that when I came home with a Ferrari she would know something was up.

You can make money and possessions your idols, or they can be your servants in enriching your life and the lives of those around you. You know an idol when it becomes more important than God, your family or your friends; you are in trouble when you would sacrifice people for something you can never really keep in the end, even if it’s a good thing. There is an old saying that teaches a vital lesson:

NAKED WE ENTER THIS WORLD, AND NAKED WE LEAVE IT.

There are just things you can’t take with you. Figure out what they are so you can keep some real perspective.

Is there nothing you CAN take with you?

I believe you take who you are, what you have become, the love you have developed and the love others have given to you, and, of course, the intelligence you have gained in this life. These are the only things of eternal worth we possess.

Will you be thankful for your life here or will death be a time of terror because you wasted your existence and have done nothing worthy of eternity?

Please, identify and set aside your idols, put your life in order with God first. Start there and develop the faith to know that God is still in charge and in the end all will be well.

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT – You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or the waters below the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I The Lord your God am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject me, but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. Deuteronomy 5:4 (Tanakh, JPS Translation)

This is one of the commandments I think I have never quite understood, except in terms of not worshiping graven images and imputing to them godlike powers. It is God alone we are to worship.

My Muslim friends, for the most part, allow no life-like representations of any kind for fear of offending Allah. Many years ago my husband bought a lovely silk prayer rug in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul that has a floral “feel” to it and a few things that resemble lamps, but nothing that could be considered much more than intricate designs. I know that some Muslims do not allow photos to be taken or displayed and the only “art” is primarily of wonderful geodesic designs.

As parents at Ronald McDonald House we frequently put picture puzzles together and some of the Arab residents were horrified that we did so. Sometimes dealing with life threatening experiences makes a simple activity such as putting a puzzle together a way to take a deep breath, step back and calm your soul. We could sometimes even laugh together. A twelve year old sibling of one Arab patient would often watch us at the puzzle table and we could feel how what we were doing excited him, but we didn’t dare invite him to join us. Then one day the boy’s father came and asked if his son could join us. Of course he could, and I tell you this kid could be a champion competition puzzler. He was so fast and accurate it was astounding. He must have figured out how to work a puzzle by watching us. His father was so proud of him, but I’ve wondered if the boy or his father dared to let him continue puzzling at home.

I do not know how artists who wished to paint or sculpt felt about this particular commandment. I do believe that the first part of the commandment really did have to do with worship of idols and still left room for art. It’s the second part that intrigues me. Does God really visit the guilt of the parents on the heads of the children for many generations? Or is this His way of warning the people of what actually happens if they are unrighteous and fail at rearing their children the way that will teach them truth and keep them free?

This appears to be one of those “I tell you of consequences and what happens when you fail in your duty.”  God tells us how things really are and then we are the ones who make them come to pass.

There are so many idols to bind us and stop our growth as people. Whenever we turn to the idols of fame and money, to the arm of flesh, we lose our freedom to make wise choices.

GLOBAL WARMING – A REFUGE FOR LIARS AND FOOLS

“SCIENCE MUST NOT IMPOSE ANY PHILOSOPHY, ANYMORE THAN THE TELEPHONE MUST TELL US WHAT TO SAY.”
G. K. Chesterton

The search for TRUE science has always been fraught with peril. Just look to Galileo if you think scientific truth is easily won. And now we have so-called “CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS” to feed to the wolves.

To make a fetish of one’s faith in science, or scientists, alone, places a burden on scientific practitioners that they were never meant to bear. Their opinions on God or religion are just that, OPINIONS only. Being a scientist does not mean your opinion is better than mine as to belief in God and intelligence. And TRUE SCIENCE cannot change the parameters of any discussion on matters of scientific inquiry. To do so is the very definition of hypocrisy. How those parameters concerning so-called global warming have been switched over the years is stunning.

In the field of Anthropogenic Global Warming or Climate Change or whatever else someone chooses to call it, the great scientist Al  Gore’s pronouncement that “the science is settled” flies in the face of all reason. When has science ever been settled? Should mankind’s inquiries have stopped at Sir Isaac Newton? John Stuart Mill said that there is a need to question EVERYTHING in science. Even if many proofs have been given and tested, a true scientist never stops testing again and again. There is always need for a Devil’s Advocate in science. No matter how sound the theory may appear, no advances can be made until results are duplicated again and again. Change just one little thing and the results may surprise you.

What would have happened if Newtonian physics had never been questioned, or Einstein’s theories had not been challenged?  Where would we be without Quantum Physics, Fractal Geometry, String Theory, and oh so many other ideas that have changed our understanding of our world and the cosmos?

If science were really ever settled, why would so much acrimony be stirred by the so-called Global Warming crisis?  Why would careers and reputations be sullied? Why would such ugliness and blackmail be used?  Why stop scientific journals from publishing dissenting opinions and threatening their very right to continue publishing at all? Why would the media stop any questioning and refuse to publish any divergent opinions?

Even after the scandalous e-mails at East Anglia were revealed and clearly showed the lies and intimidation used, there are people who never knew the e-mails were there or never bothered to read them. They still believe that Global Warming is true and have no thoughts or questions on the contrary evidence.

When I was young we were taught the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals. Humans and other animals require the oxygen produced by plants and plants require the carbon dioxide produced by the animals. We planted trees on Arbor Day to help the environment and even as children we understood the need to clean the air with plants, and greenhouse gases were considered beneficial for the earth. Now, suddenly we are to believe that those beneficial gases are the root of all evil.

Our juvenile junior Senator, Mark Begich, likes to tell how he became aware of the truth of Global Warming when he saw a childhood photo of him and his siblings at Portage Glacier with the glacier right behind them and small icebergs floating by them. Now the glacier has retreated and cannot even be seen. All I could do was sigh and think, “Mark, sweetie, drive about two miles away and look at Byron Glacier, about 1/50th or less the size of Portage and it’s right there where it’s always been. Look up at Gunsight and the other glaciers in a stretch along the mountain tops, even smaller than Byron, right there where they’ve always been. If it’s Global Warming, wouldn’t the smaller glaciers that are within just a few miles of Portage melt first?” I know for a fact that an ice cube melts faster than a large block of ice. Basic science is still that basic.

About fifty or so years ago there was a glacier in interior Alaska traveling so fast it was called a “galloping” glacier. It threatened to reach and cover the Richardson Highway, probably the only road in the area. Some years it would come forward many miles. Officials predicted that the highway would be covered and destroyed by the ice within a year when suddenly the glacier reversed and began retreating just as fast as it had advanced. It seems that glaciers, and the ice fields they come from, have their own rules. Perhaps Portage has retreated because pressures on the ice field have shifted and other glaciers have pushed outward. Who really knows?

The glaciers in the Himalayas were supposed to be all melted by now. Instead they have grown so much their regular summer melt off threatens to flood the valleys below.

When Al Gore played up the tide water glaciers melting and falling into the sea in Greenland he made it sound so ominous and, again I sighed, “They even have a name for the process, it’s called “calving”, and has always occurred. Where do you think the iceberg that sank the Titanic came from?”

Then there’s the matter of the sainted polar bears. There are actually more polar bears now than ever. They are doing what they always do. The daddy bears are aggressive as all get out and eat the baby bears, even their own, so mommy has to be fierce to protect her cubs. All polar bears swim way out to sea and sometimes rest on ice floes in the middle of the ocean. A forty mile swim? Hey, there’s nothing to it for a polar bear.

And the arctic ice, there’s more of it this year than last by a whole bunch. The Antarctic ice is thicker than ever, too. Read climatedepot.com if you care about facts.

Climate change? Only if your POLITICS are so inclined.

UR-MEN

(This is a poem I have written in response to the Holocaust Deniers who make a mockery of and deny the reality of historical Truth)

Of late the faded photograph, grainy and old,
Intrudes upon my mind
And sears my sleep.

The women – naked, exposed –
Led helplessly to an open grave,
Striving still, to shield their beauty,
Hands covering breasts and mounds —
Enclosed by encircling arms, one protects her child
within,
Now never to be born.

Nearby with rifles stand
things
Who think they are men,
leering at the capturing camera,
Bearing witness forever to their unholy glee.

In the vast economy of God,
Whose loss is worse?
The women, whose beauty is only transformed,
Or the unthinkers who destroy themselves?

Anniel

I feel such a sense of foreboding for the Jewish people worldwide and for the State of Israel.  Our amazing president has managed to fail all of our strongest allies. Will Israel stand alone? Prophesy says so. The Lord has said He will bless those who bless them and curse those who curse them.

Where will we stand?

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT – I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: You shall have no other gods beside me. Deuteronomy 5:3; Tanakh Version

“THE FIRST IDOLATRY IS TO WORSHIP YOURSELF.” Anonymous

One of the criticisms of the Ten Commandments is that God Himself, the Great I AM, tells us He must be first in our lives and that he is a “zealous” (Jewish Tanakh) or a “jealous” (KJV) God. Some philosophers have equated God as a selfish being for His insistence that we worship Him above all else. Why would a God who loves His children say we must put Him first? Is He really a jealous God? Are we to be slaves to such a God?

To become a person of faith, we must first understand who we are, where we came from and where it is we want to go. We need to get a clear picture of our journey here on earth. Do you believe you have always been and there is a purpose for your existence, or do you think you are just another “animal”, a product of evolutionary chance with no clear reason for being? Which would be the most comforting and satisfying answer? Most importantly though, which answer is the truth?

As a youngster I had very little religious training, although my mother sent us to church on Christmas and Easter, and occasionally in between. My father at that time spoke against all religions. I was eight when my most beloved grandfather died. I saw him in the casket not breathing and went to bed that night and thought to hold my breath to see what not breathing would feel like. That’s probably where my claustrophobia began. I was terrified as I looked into the darkness thinking of my grandpa and wondering if someone would show him where to go. Otherwise how would he find his way?

For several years I thought only of the loneliness of death, the overpowering feeling of not being able to breathe. Then one day when I was about thirteen I knew to end my fear I had to find out if God was a reality. I went to my favorite “thinking spot,” a split rail fence where I often sat to gaze at the mountains. I looked at all the beauty around me and asked God directly if He lived. He didn’t answer right away but I stayed where I was just thinking and looking. I don’t know how long it was, but suddenly a still voice came to me that said, “Don’t you see how beautiful it is? Do you really think that happened by accident?” Warmth washed over my whole body and I knew beyond doubt that God is real and that he had created the earth and all of us for a purpose.

I also knew that every person who lives has always been and will always be. The Lord of Heaven and earth has a plan for you and me, but we are responsible for discovering that for ourselves. Life was not meant to be easy. We are the ones who must find our gifts and strengths, and to overcome our weaknesses. The only way we can accomplish our goals is to put God first. If we think only about our own desires we run the risk of becoming weak, becoming a law unto ourselves and losing our way completely. We are not to trust in the insecure “arm of flesh” lest it become our idol, whether that arm is our own or belongs to someone else.

There is a reason we call God our Father, for He created us in the beginning and then, when we were ready, He gave us the chance to progress by being born into this mortal existence to be tested and tried. To grow and become, as Jesus said, perfect, even as He is, that is the truth of existence.

Only with that knowledge can we be fulfilled and live without fear, giving our hearts and souls freely to Him as we follow the path home to Him, our true destiny.

MY MUSLIM “FAMILY” or How I Got Adopted

“INSHALLAH, CHILD OF ABRAHAM.” To A Most Beautiful Young Eagle on His Final Earthly Flight

For many years we shared time at a Ronald McDonald House in Chicago with families from many Arab Nations. As women we were told not to touch the men and to let the families initiate contact as they desired. So I was hesitant at times to approach any Arab there.

As the years passed we all became more comfortable with each other and began trading ideas and offering help to each other. The first time I shared in the impending death of a child, I stood under a street light with his Arab mother while she and I wept together and she showed me photos of her son when he was healthy. He was her only child and she and her husband had fought so long to keep him. Mohammed died the next morning and his father came to me and said, ” Will you come and look at my wife?” I thought he meant for me to talk with her, but when I reached their room she was lying passed out across the bed like a broken bird. I do not think she had really slept in weeks. Her husband stood there gazing with such love at her, then he turned to me and said, “Isn’t she beautiful?” And he put his arms around me. He really did mean for me to “look” at her and see how beautiful she was.

Over several years a Saudi family came to the House frequently with several of their children who were in need of the same kind of organ transplants. The family was evidently high class because the husband, Nasir, was shown great deference by all the other families and was kind of a tribal leader. Nasir and I had many conversations about the genetic problems that occurred in his family because of inbreeding (his wife was a cousin to him), but he knew that the custom would not change, one always married within the clan. We discussed God and philosophy and he frequently asked about life in Alaska (which he was amused by and could not get a clear picture of), while I tried to learn more of his life. His wife smiled at me but spoke almost no English. Since she was the “chief” wife, most of the other women were kind but distant. Everyone seemed to love my daughter, even Nasir, who had a daughter the same age.

One day I went to the large living room where the men gathered every day to listen to Al-Jazeera. It was my habit to sit in another corner and knit. I noticed that the women, who never came into the living room, were all sitting in the rotunda of the room and had turned towards me as I came in. I was puzzled as Nasir approached me and all the other men also turned towards me. Nasir engaged me in a conversation in front of everyone, which seemed to center around my belief in God. He finally seemed satisfied by my answers and put his hand out to me. I was startled but thought he just wanted to shake hands with me so I also extended my hand. He grabbed my hand, pulled me into his arms and kissed each of my cheeks, then he stepped back and all of the men shook their heads in what appeared to be consent at what had happened. All the women smiled and began talking and everyone looked happy.

Stunned and not understanding what had just gone on, I smiled at them all and went to my customary chair to knit.

Whenever I was at the house after that I was treated as family. If the women cooked they fed me, anxious for me to like their food. Most of the women stopped veiling themselves around me, and, interestingly enough, some of them also unveiled in front of my husband.

I still do not know what happened when Nasir kissed me that day, but I felt like I had been “adopted.” I am so aware now of the wars and general instability in the Mid-East because my friends and their children are there. I worry about them and weep for their losses. I understand the minds of some of the people because they have shared them with me.

My daughter and I kept a heart-rending deathwatch over a beautiful Arab child named after the eagles while his body rejected a kidney and lung transplant. Watching the process of dying for one trying so hard to live is not for the faint of heart. His father could not bear to see his child, his beloved son, suffer. He fell apart if he came into the room. His wife took longer but finally could watch no more either. Many times my daughter and I were the only ones in his room but we tried to be there at least once a day. We spoke to him often and could see his wonderful personality peeking out while we wiped his face and let him know how much we had come to love him. His death was a blow to so many people, but the Arab word Inshallah (as Allah wills) guides and sustains the people of the Islamic faith. They have a kind of fatalism, for want of a better word, that helps them cope in ways more westernized people don’t understand very well.

One question I had about the Arabs has been answered very clearly. I always wondered why the Iranians released their U.S. hostages as soon as Jimmy Carter was no longer President. I now know that Arabs only respect their enemies if they are strong and they knew that Carter was weak. Ronald Reagan was a man they could respect as a “worthy” enemy.

WHAT READING CAN DO

“YOU CAN ALWAYS TELL A READER. THEY READ EVERY WORD ON THE MENU, EVEN WHEN THEY ALREADY KNOW WHAT THEY WANT.” My Mother, when she was almost 90.

I do not remember a time when I didn’t have a book spinning in my head. Reading forced me to decide whether I wanted to be like the people in the books I read. That aspect of reading became more important when Holocaust literature started to become available in the early 1950’s. I still weep for Elie Weisel’s losses and marvel at his survival.

My youngest child (who was born when I was almost 46) and I were discussing a talk she had heard by an author who was a holocaust survivor when I mentioned that I had been in my early teens when I began reading books on the subject. She looked surprised and indicated she had begun reading those books when she was nine or ten. Imagine her shock when I reminded her that when I was that age the war was barely over and the books were not yet written. World War II was ancient history to all of my children.

There were so many times that books challenged me and made me decide what actions I would not take part in, or which ones I wanted to emulate. Sometimes I think of life as a continual “reinvention” of one’s self. The act of reading internalizes the quest to change like nothing else. Asking questions and deciding how one should act is a process of surprising growth and most of the thought involved is inside “where the meanings are” (per Emily Dickinson).

I remember a chance thing when I was a high school sophomore in a World History class. The instructor began the class by telling us what we didn’t know about history. Then he described a city where the ruler had gathered up scrolls, clay tablets, cuneiform writings and books from all over the known world and established the greatest library the world had ever seen. The teacher said he knew no one in the class could even tell him the name of that city. Instantly without even thinking I said, “Alexandria.” The teacher’s face was so shocked as he stared at me. I was also shocked because I was normally shy and hated attention being drawn to me. I honestly could not remember how I knew about the great library at Alexandria and can only think I must have read about it in The Book of Knowledge years before that class. If the teacher had asked me one real question about the city or the library I don’t think I could have answered it.  The only thing I could have said was that the library was destroyed almost completely some time after the death of the ruler (Alexander the Great).

Of course I became the “teacher’s pet”, and also became known as a “brain.” There are times when a reputation has to be maintained with great effort. I worked so hard in that class so I would not be exposed as the dummy I actually felt like. I don’t think I could have done anything wrong in the eyes of the teacher in that class, and I know word got around to a lot of the other teachers. I found myself putting more effort into every class I had.

One of my aunts (the wealthy one) was telling my mother how she paid her children $25 for each A they got, $20 for each B, and $10 for each C. I was around the corner listening and feeling sad because we didn’t have that kind of money. After a moment my mother said, “If we did that with Anniel we’d go broke on one report card.”

She had never said a word to me about my grades so I hadn’t known she was proud of me. Her words were a better reward than any money.

LEARNING TO READ

“TODAY IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.” English translated road construction sign on  Tokyo street – engrish.com

Very early this morning I had cause to remember learning to read and what that has meant in my life, which is still under construction.

I was three years old when our family moved out to what was then the country. Dad bought an acre of scrub land covered with sagebrush, tumbleweed and mustard weed, where we lived in a four room shack with no indoor plumbing or central heat. We did have electricity and a party-line telephone. A well was drilled and we were fortunate enough to hit artesian so we never needed to pump or prime the well. I loved the well and thought it the most beautiful place of all in winter when it froze where it flowed down the pipe and onto the bare rocks and little branches around it.

We had very few books in our home, although daddy loved the newspaper and we all loved the comics. After dad and mom finished with the paper, I always sat on the floor under the kitchen table and  “looked” at the rest of the paper, along with the comics.

My older brother started school the year we moved, so I was alone a lot. My parents decided that year to buy a set of books called The Book of Knowledge, and I would sit on the floor in front of the wood stove for hours poring over and looking at the different sections and pictures until I practically had them memorized. I particularly loved the literature and Fairy Tale sections where there were tales of villains and heroes. Each year we would receive another book to add to the set. It was called The Book of Knowledge Annual, and I lived for the day it would arrive so I could find out what had been learned in the past year in science, and what literature had been added.

I could hardly wait to go to school so I could learn to read, then I would be able to learn anything in the world. The thought was thrilling to me. I envied my brother and the kids around us who went to school before I did. They would be so far ahead of me. I hated the thought.

Finally I was six and the big day arrived. Kindergarten at last, and I would learn to read. All of my senses were alert, and, sure enough, the teacher stood up and talked about the great things in store for us, including learning to read! She picked up a strip of blue colored paper and said, “This is the color ‘blue’ and this is the word ‘blue’ written on it.” She repeated the same thing with a strip of red paper. I was so bewildered. She repeated the same thing with an orange strip, and then added, “Someday you will know how to read, and no one will have to tell you what the words are.”

I went into absolute shock. Of course the words said “blue”, “red”, and “orange”, what else could they possibly say? Then it hit me, this was reading and I hadn’t known it. I already knew how to read!

I wish I could tell how I learned to read without ever realizing what I was doing. I remember the stories, King Bruce and the Spider, Robin Hood, Beauty and the Beast, I had read them all in The Book of Knowledge. I had also read about World War II and even the Rape of Nanking in The Reader’s Digest, which a neighbor subscribed to.

After school that afternoon I told my mom I didn’t have to go to school anymore because I already knew how to read.

They still made me go to school, even though “See Spot Run” held little attraction for me.

MEDICAL LESSONS FROM ANNIEL – II

LISTEN TO YOUR PATIENT, THEY WILL TELL YOU WHAT’S WRONG.   Medical Axiom

Soon after my daughter had transferred to the University of Chicago to be near a doctor who actually treated the conditions known as Chiari I and Pseudotumor Cerebri (PTC), I had occasion to approach him about some questionable behavior on the part of a resident in his program. The physician explained many things to me about the new students coming into medical schools. He said they were unused to real work and believed whatever they did had to be right because they had been reared by parents who taught them so. Students who had been raised on “self esteem” by their parents and teachers now had unions representing them, so they never had to take responsibility for themselves. He told me that minority students would accuse anyone who chastised them of racism. He said that we would look back on the 1990’s as the last of the “golden age” of American medicine. His admissions were stunning to me.

This doctor usually made rounds with only two or three residents or fellows accompanying him and they were pretty quiet then. One day he took all of his students on “grand rounds.” That meant that 10 to 15 people were crowded into my daughter’s room. I could not believe the student’s rude and insulting behavior, not just to my daughter but to their teaching physician, too. They talked and whispered to each other incessantly, giggled and laughed at jokes, and even shoved each other. The physician told me later that if he demanded they stop, someone would accuse him of abuse before the union.

I finally could not stand such behavior and said, “Dr. A, awhile ago you told me that the quality of the new residents you’re getting isn’t very good and they are hard to deal with. Were you telling the truth and do you still feel that way?” The residents stopped to listen to his answer. “Anniel,” he said, “It’s worse than I can tell you. They are so poorly educated that we almost have to start over. They don’t know how to work and don’t even seem to care. It’s a very sad situation.” He said some other unflattering things while the students watched with slack faces. I would have been crying had I been one of those students. I would not want anyone to think of me that way.

To my astonishment, when the physician turned again to my daughter the students went back to their former behavior. Remember, these were residents, which means they had already graduated from medical school. When they all left I told my daughter that I could not believe not one of them acted chastened at all. She laughed and said, “Oh mom, they don’t think he was talking about them.

There were so many times that these students needed to be failed in their studies and kicked out of medical school I can’t begin to write of them. But the university would have to deal with the unions. Some of these students had begun to mature when their rotations were over but most are somewhere out there now where I feel they are poor physicians and perhaps a threat to their patients.

There is one other aspect of the medical establishment that I feel needs addressing. No one, and I do mean no one, ever asks patients what they have learned about their illnesses. They never ask how treatment has changed them. It’s as though anything they learn is of no value.

When my thyroid was removed 43 years ago, it was a few years before I realized that the periods of ups and downs I had gone through for so long had been part of my illness. Just recently a doctor told me that what she referred to as “pulsatile thyroid disease” was very rare in the literature. Well, sure, most patients probably don’t figure it out and if they say anything the doctors don’t pay much attention. The “white blindness” I suffered the first summer I was in Alaska remained a mystery to me until my daughter had a thyroid storm and also went “white blind.” No one really cared about that either.

I bought a thyroid book when I knew my daughter had thyroid disease and could have added so much to what was said in it. None of the endocrinologists I have gone to have ever listened to what I could say, and when we tried to get a diagnosis on my daughter no one would listen to her symptoms. Let’s see, her hair was falling out in big hanks; she was freezing all the time, even in summer; she was losing weight and sleeping all the time. One endocrinologist told me to bring her back when she “starts having symptoms.” What did he think we had been saying for half an hour? Then he wrote in his report that the patient “denied” any family history of thyroid disease. We had told him about my grandmother, father, brother, aunts and myself. Had he been asleep or just not listening? Oh, I forgot: all patients lie to their doctors.

Dr. Hashimoto wrote the book on the thyroid in 1912, and I don’t think it’s been updated since. My daughter developed a newly identified (sort of) thyroid disease called Hashimoto’s Encephalitis a few years ago. After she nearly died and spent a few months going in and out of comas her thyroid was finally removed. When she went in to be checked by her endocrinologist in Anchorage he informed her that Hashimoto’s Encephalitis was not a “real” disease so to “shut up” about it. And, as he told us, all the other endocrinologists in Alaska agreed with him.

Are there good doctors out there? Of course there are. But they are only people like the rest of us and probably have their own bell curve.

Until medicine reaches another “golden age” we have to deal with what is, not what we wish was.

MEDICAL LESSONS FROM ANNIEL – I

“FIRST DO NO HARM.” Hippocrates

This is a personal account of my thinking on the state of medicine in the United States today. My account is based on many years of experience because of genetic anomalies passed down for at least five generations in my family. I watched my father and his siblings struggle with glandular and metabolic disorders from their mother. I and at least one brother also fought the same disorders and now my two daughters and one grandson are afflicted.

Our youngest daughter’s medical problems began at birth even though she seemed very healthy. As she grew she thought she was like everyone else. People said they had headaches, so her headaches were normal; other people were “double jointed”, so when her knees pushed backwards or her elbows dislocated, that happened to everyone else, too; when she laughed or got upset, lost all strength and fell down, that also must happen to other people. In short the following rule applies:

There are many things your children will accept as “normal” and not tell you about. There is no way as a parent you can realize many things that afflict your child. All you can do is assume your child is healthy unless there are family diseases where the symptoms are clear, or you have a really good pediatrician.

When our daughter became acutely ill I recognized at once that she had suffered a thyroid storm. When I tried to tell the doctors about our family history and what I knew, I was told that, “This isn’t about you. Stop trying to get the attention.” Many years later our daughter finally had her thyroid removed and there is not a single endocrinologist or surgeon who knows what actually destroyed it. Even now there are doctors baffled by her condition and wonder if the thyroid is responsible for all of her problems.

She was finally diagnosed by lumbar puncture (LP) with a condition known as Pseudotumor Cerebri (PTC). The neurologist handling her case had told us specifically that the LP was a “benign” test that would give them a lot of information. After the test he decided that the radiologist hadn’t conducted the test properly and therefore the diagnosis was wrong. When I asked when they would redo the test he yelled at me, “WHAT KIND OF A MOTHER ARE YOU WHO WOULD SUBJECT YOUR CHILD TO A FAR FROM BENIGN PROCEDURE?” Let me get this straight. Last week the test was “benign”, but this week it’s not and I’m a terrible mother not to know that. Of course the rare diagnosis of PTC was later confirmed and twelve years later our daughter is still fighting the condition.

During the early days of her acute illness, just breathing near a doctor made me a Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy suspect.

Doctors really do not like patients (or their parents) who can diagnose themselves, especially when they turn out to be right. Even doctors can change their minds about their tests or diagnosis, but then they can always blame the patient or their parents for their second guesses.

I was near death when I was finally diagnosed with severe Grave’s Disease, which I thought was just a thyroid disorder. Even though I had a Radioactive Iodine Uptake Test ( a now antiquated test) which showed I had an uptake of 93, when a reading of 40 and over was considered highly dangerous; when I had a blood pressure reading of 160/140 (absolute fact); and I went from 105 lbs. down to 93 lbs. in only seven days, the doctors wanted to put any treatment off. They told me they would “try to do something for you in a month or so.” Fortunately a doctor friend steered me in the right direction.

Sometimes getting a diagnoses does not mean you will receive treatment, or that the doctors who see you will be competent. You may have to change doctors more than once. Check around and ask lots of questions.

Medical records are another source of concern to me. Everyone talks about electronic records and how much more “efficient” they will be. Yep, they will be out there, available to anyone, doctor or not. They will be out there, right or wrong. Two of my white as milk children, one male and one female, have been misidentified as “tall, overweight black females” on some tests put in their records. One was in Chicago and the other in Seattle. When they both reported the mistake they were told the records were part of their permanent record and could not be removed, but an addendum correcting the record would be added. However, the records obviously belong in someone else’s file and there are lots of pages between the reports and the addenda. And where is the correct information that should be part of their records?

Next question: Do doctors really read the records? I guarantee that many doctors don’t so much as glance at records until they are walking into the patient’s room. They probably don’t even notice any addenda.

At one point my daughter was being told she had a “flat affect”, so lots of psychiatrists were being sent to her room for a “mental health” diagnosis based on her “flat affect.” We didn’t know what they meant. I arrived in Chicago, stayed with her all day and saw that she did a lot of talking to friends and medical people. Her voice was getting quite raspy towards the end of the day when a quite arrogant pulmonary specialist entered the room, turned his back on me, and proceeded to question my daughter. She answered a question and he said, “Oh my, you do have a flat affect.” CLICK, went my brain, that’s what they mean. “Are you aware her right vocal cord is paralyzed?” I asked. He whirled around, glared at me and asked what I had said. I repeated that her right vocal cord was paralyzed. He stared at me while he processed that information then turned and barked out to her, “Why is your vocal cord paralyzed?” She smiled sweetly and said, “Because the surgeon here slipped and nicked my recurrent laryngeal nerve when he removed my thyroid.” He stood there staring at her for a few more seconds, then turned and left the room without another word. No one had even read the record that covered the thyroid surgery. Once they got that information out all the psychiatrists disappeared, along with the accusations of a “flat affect.”

On a local radio program the doctor described what happens when a doctor is trying to operate a computer while also trying  to interact with a patient. It just doesn’t work and it’s frustrating to both the doc and the patient.  And what good are records if they are wrong or go unread?

Enough for now. I have further more serious medical matters to address soon.