26 November 2009: my father, the Global Brain and Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
FT Technology BlogsThese were the events in and around London on Sunday 21st February 2010:
* Chinese New Year celebrations
* BAFTA 2010
* London Fashion Week
These are some of the reasons London is such a diverse and vibrant city to live in!
Well whilst romantic Westerners preoccupy themselves with St. Valentine’s Day, the Chinese are celebrating the start of the New Year so here’s a card and a message for the Year of the Tiger:
Typically Chinese families gather on New Year’s Eve and have a family feast; the Chinese need little encouragement to cook, eat, converse, wish each other fortuity and enjoy ourselves — LOL. Amongst the dozen or so delicacies served at the family meal, the centerpiece is always……….the fish (our two were braised with shallots whose homophone in Chinese has links with “smartness / intelligence” — what a language, hmmn (?) when even shallots have semantic meanings, LOL):
Anyway, I wish everyone a “新年快樂!”
2010 is the Year of the Tiger and also an important election year in the UK. Current polls suggest that it will be a hung Parliament and the vote from minorities will be the deciding one on the fates of the Conservative, Labor and Liberal Democrat’s electoral endeavors. That was the theme at the Chinese New Year reception at Westminster. Every MP, councillor and the six Chinese PPCs (prospective parliamentary candidates) who attended made this the focus of their speeches in addition to the reminder that it is critically important for the Chinese community to register to vote and mobilize themselves to find out more about the political process.
At the moment there are no Chinese MPs so attendees were and are hopeful that 2010 could prove to be a breakthrough year for the community.
A by-product of the evening is that a BBC World Service producer wants to include me in various program strands in the lead-up to the general election. This is because she asked why people are so apathetic to the political process in the UK and how the Chinese community seems to be part of that apathy and lack of engagement. I shared with her that my family isn’t representative of that apathy; as soon as the electoral registration forms appear I ensure that we register and on polling day we make time to put our ticks in the ballot boxes. In fact, there was one recent occasion where there was a local council election and an anomalous oversight meant that my mother wasn’t able to vote and she was upset about this.
So……..MY FAMILY ARE REGISTERED AND WILL DEFINITELY BE VOTING IN THE MAY 2010 ELECTIONS.
Now, as a general rule we are apolitical — in the sense that we each have our own political affiliations (independent of anyone else in the family), we vote and we discuss global politics, but we don’t get into political stand-offs with other people. We respect that perspectives and political philosophies are diverse because the nature of human experience varies, culturally and ideologically.
Moreover, in our family history, politics has been the source, cause and solution of various situations. Without going into too much information, on the maternal side of my family there have been some important Chinese community figures.
In my own case I would say that I was more involved with political processes and interests when I was younger. At college, I was elected Chair of the Political and Social Studies Group (even though I wasn’t a humanities student like the other participants) and Treasurer of the Student Council. Later, at university, I was elected to the Student Council and subsequently to the Academic Board. All of these experiences involved listening to fellow students about improvements and changes they wanted, ensuring their interests were appropriately communicated to the teaching body and/or providing a platform for students to explore issues that mattered to them.
What I will say is that anyone who is elected into a position of responsibility and representation needs to be genuinely committed to their audience’s interests and to convert any concerns into implementable actions.
The reason people disengage from the political process and elected officials, I noted to the BBC producer, is for the simple fact that the operational turnaround of policy manifesto to legislative passing typically takes at least one term of office (4 years) and the small progress steps are rarely and inappropriately communicated. Ergo, people question what the point of voting is if they can’t directly EXPERIENCE any policy changes. This then makes them perceive politics and politicians as abstracts, removed from them, rather than as realities implementing solutions.
Anyway, amongst the 6 PPCs, there was one candidate I thought represented their party and themselves in an articulate and coherent way and has a good chance of being elected — despite campaigning in a constituency which is a long-time stronghold of another party. They also seem to have a smart online approach to communicating and engaging with their potential voters which will make a difference. People want candidates and information which are accessible, easy to track and comprehensible.
Now here are the pictures and some accompanying comments. Yes and, alas, the iPhone doesn’t take great pictures at night.
(1.) To enter the Westminster complex, there is a thorough security process to pass:
(2.) This is the Great Hall which has recently been renovated:
(3.) The speakers in a group photo and the 11-year-old girl is standing for Junior Parliament:
(4.) The photographers and press show their presence:
(5.) A side room for press and video interviews:
(6.) Simon Woolley, Chair of Operation Black Vote, tells the audience, “The Chinese Barack Obama could be in this room!”:
(7.) Later I open the Chinese fortune cookie handed out to me:
(8.) The message reads, “The opportunity to show your leadership will soon be here.”
LOL!
No, I will not be standing as a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate in 2010 and have no plans to become the first elected Chinese MP in the UK.
I’d much prefer to be the person who contributes to cracking the conundrums of synergizing global human and machine consciousness to interconnected on+offline spheres of coalescence, coherence and contextualization.
Every year, there’s a Chinese New Year reception at the Houses of Parliament (by invitation) and this year I’m accepting and will go along. It will be interesting to hear what’s ahead for Sino-Anglo relations, particularly since Madam Fu Ying (an excellent Chinese Ambassador to the UK, imo) is returning to China following her promotion to become the second female Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Chinese New Year in 2010 coincides with St. Valentine’s Day, btw, so maybe we’ll all receive love and prosperity!
Here’s what I got for my Christmas present:
That’s right, I got the best Christmas present anyone could give another person: unforgettable memories. Those are more valuable than receiving another pair of shoes, a handbag or the latest Chanel make-up kit (these, apparently, are what women covet the most).
Incidentally, of the two cars, I think the beaten up old Fiat that’s being held together with the sticky tape has a lot more character and pulls a person in more than the Lamborghini. Unequivocally, the Lamborghini has a “WOW” factor and it would be on most supercar fan’s wish list. However, the Fiat is the one that arrests a person on a street, makes them smile at its quaintness and then wonder, “Who are the owners? What type of conversations and adventures has this little machine experienced? Why on earth did they use brown stick tape instead of send it to the scrap yard? How cool would it be to be weaving over the narrow cobblestones of Roma in this?!”
My Xmas trip was partly a vacation and partly a reconnaissance trip for Project ART. I’m going to the Venice Biennale this year for reconnaissance too, :*). When I’m in Roma I stay in a beautiful rooftop apartment near the Spanish Steps which is convenient for walking to all the major landmarks: the Coliseum, the Vatican, the Village Borghese, the Pantheo, the Trevi fountain and all the main shopping areas.
Mostly, I simply liked wandering off the tourist hotspots and experiencing what the locals did on a daily basis. One Sunday, after I went to listen to the Pope’s New Year message, I walked all the way to the Villa de Pomphilij where an armed military guard kindly escorted me across a busy road. He was shocked to see me emerging from one of the side roads because there was no pedestrian footpath on the side road and I was laden with groceries I’d bought from the supermercato that doubled up as a petrol station.
Anyway, that was strange to see: armed military guards and a military jeep in the city.
Then I found myself watching two brothers in the park (about 18 months and 4, respectively) kicking a football around whilst their family of 12+, including grandparents, watched on from their picnic. That’s right, a picnic at Christmas time — how cool is that?! Of course, the temperature did hit about 20 degrees Celsius and it was sunny, so………..
The scene was especially touching because the toddler was unsteady on his feet and kept falling onto his derrière (as evidenced by the notable patches of mud there), but his older brother seemed to be completely oblivious to his plight and kept running with the ball until, finally, he realized the youngster was no longer chasing him or the ball but plumped on his backside and struggling to get up again. At which point the older one would abandon his football and run over to help the baby up. It was very sweet.
Something else magical I managed to video was the thunder and lightning over St. Peter’s Square on New Year’s Eve. It was quite an experience being stranded under the colonnades, waiting for the torrential rain to stop, and hearing one of the nuns say, “Oh, Papa!” as if she was sure God was sending us a message about the new decade.
After the rain eventually stopped, I managed to navigate my way to the Via dei Fiori near the Coliseum to watch the fireworks and the concert that augured in 2010.
All-in-all, an eventful and revelatory trip with lots of videos and photos taken; far too many to post!
Here’s a clip from one of my favorite movies, La Vita è Bella! In 2010 it’s likely that I’ll be in Italy quite a bit; I’ve already been asked to return to Rome where I spent some of Xmas 2009.
Last week in my Italian class we were asked to design a psychology test for job interview candidates. Naturally, whilst the other groups created fairly simple three-question tests of the type “Are you easily stressed? Yes or no?” I came up with a three tiered test involving multiple choice questions with a scale of probability and a scenario. This was my scenario:
* The building has to be evacuated because of a fire. What would be the order that you’d evacuate your fellow employees?
(a.) Top floor first and then work your way down?
(b.) Middle floor, then bottom floor before the top floor?
(c.) All the women and children first, and then the men and the pets?
Quite mischievously, to my group, I said that anyone who answers (c) has a great sense of humor — or twisted nobility. The answer which indicates that the person has good leadership skills and powers of deduction and judgment is (a).
Anyway, as it happened, the guinea pig for my test unwittingly answered (c). He’s a journalist so who says chivalry is kaput? Lol.
Ok and below is the Google Translate version of what I just wrote above. As we can see, the translation’s fairly good except in one or two places so I’ve corrected the Google Translate mistakes (in brackets).
It will be quite something if one day my sense of humor in Italian is the same as my ability to read the financial newspapers in Italian or as good as Roberto Benigni!
Ah and what’s the point of attending Italian classes when there are such good online translation services?
Simple: reduce lost in translation occurrences and know where the misunderstandings can and are occurring.
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La settimana scorsa nella mia classe di italiano ci è stato chiesto di progettare un test di psicologia per i candidati colloquio (potenziali) di lavoro. Naturalmente, mentre gli altri gruppi creati abbastanza semplice a tre prove questione del tipo “Sei facilmente sottolineato (stressato)? Sì o no?” Sono (sono) venuto con un test di tre livelli che coinvolgono domande a scelta multipla con una scala di probabilità e di uno scenario. Questo era il mio scenario:
* L’edificio deve essere evacuati a causa di un incendio. Quale sarebbe l’ordine che avevi evacuare i vostri colleghi?
(a.) Top primo piano (L’ultimo) e poi proseguite verso?
(b) Piano Oriente (Piano mezzo), poi piano terra prima che il piano superiore (l’ultimo)?
(c.) Tutte le donne e bambini in primo luogo, e poi gli uomini e gli animali domestici?
Molto (Un puo) maliziosamente, al mio gruppo, ho detto che chi risposte (c) ha un grande senso dell’umorismo — o nobiltà contorti. La risposta che indica che la persona ha una buona capacità di leadership (comando) e le competenze della detrazione e il giudizio è (a).
In ogni caso, come è successo, la cavia per la mia prova involontariamente risposto (c). Lui è un giornalista così che dice la cavalleria è kaput? Un sacco di risate (LOL).
Ok e sotto è la versione di Google Translate di quello che ho appena scritto sopra. Come si può vedere, la traduzione è abbastanza buona, tranne in uno o due posti in modo ancor più sotto ho corretto gli errori di Google Translate (tra parentesi).
Sarà cosa da poco se un giorno il mio senso dell ‘umorismo in italiano è lo stesso che la mia capacità di leggere i giornali finanziari in italiano o in buono come Roberto Benigni!
Ah e qual è il punto di frequentare corsi di italiano quando ci sono tali buoni servizi di traduzione on-line?
Semplice: ridurre la perdita di eventi di traduzione (perso nella traduzione) e conoscere (sapere) gli eventi in cui i malintesi possono e si stanno verificando.
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By the way, just the simple fact that Google Translate chose to use CONOSCERE (to know someone, a place) when the correct verb to use in this situation is SAPERE (to know about an inanimate object or subject) is a reflection that as smart as AI and translation software is, human understanding and grasp of a language remains more semantically attuned…….for now.
Ah and good leaders should have good senses of humor. Otherwise, they’d sink into a DEEP AND IRRECOVERABLE DEPRESSION about how it’s possible that seeming academic superstars graduated from the top MBA schools, Ivy League / Oxbridge institutions, law establishments, and ended up creating the global financial crisis and all the other messes.
Ironic, hmmmn?
To any readers who haven’t done so yet, please donate to the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) which includes major charities like ActionAid, Oxfam and Save the Children:
This weekend I was in the H+M store and the experience made me stop and think about how some retailers are adopting a helpful approach. Yes, some of them do have questionable labor practices and operate “sweatshops” in developing countries and exploit their workforce. Nonetheless, some are admirable in the way they’re contributing towards efforts to help the Haitian people and any efforts along these lines should be mentioned and commended!
What happened was that (at point-of-sale) an H+M sales assistant asked me if I wanted to donate towards their Haitian appeal. Now, when we buy anything online via the likes of Paypal, Amazon etc. we’re given the option to donate GBP1 or more to a known charity but what I realized in H+M is that few retail stores in the UK do this. Often, they don’t even have a collection box for loose change that we may want to give to charity.
So it was good to see H+M staff conscientiously ask every customer if they want to donate.
Later, I was in Harrods and they made no such attempt to persuade customers to do so — which is a missed opportunity since a Harrods customer donating even 1 percent of their purchase price would be equivalent in hard cash to more than 10 percent from another store. That or instead of getting an extra 10 percent off with their Harrods loyalty card the store could have offered to contribute that 10 percent to the Haitian disaster fund. Of course, any customer of any premium department store could, of their own volition, opt NOT to buy that purse or gizmo in the sale that cost GBP250 and send the money to DEC instead………….
Hmmn, consumerism and moralism whizzing in my mind and then I happened upon an article anout small pots of lip balms that cost GBP30 whilst, elsewhere, I watched a news report noting that GBP30 is how much it costs for a tent that can house 10 people for 12 months in Haiti………
Images of lots of shoppers swarming GBP100+ items in department stores also replaying in my mind……
Let’s just say that I didn’t spend much this weekend on retail therapy and I am donating to the Haiti appeal.
As for the hubris part, well…….on some discussion boards some commentators have bemoaned the fact that Western democracies are constantly having to financially support economically bankrupt dictatorships and that when we donate the monies only end up being siphoned off by unscrupulous parties or in administration costs. Granted, that’s a point of concern for the globally civic-minded.
However, three considerations:
(1.) Western democracies are simply lucky they didn’t draw the teutonic plates short straw;
(2.) 99% of Haitians cannot be blamed for a handful of corrupt dictators, management incompetents and money siphoners.
(3.) HUMANITY + COMPASSION sets us apart from the machines and the (sch)muck.
Interestingly, it has also been the week in which JP Morgan has indicated its US$1+ billion bonus pool, President Obama has announced measures to clawback some of the monies US taxpayers stumped up to bail out the banks and there’s yet another cycle of “How to reform the banks and their bonus culture” media-bashing of bankers.
Of course there has to be some co-ordinated global philosophy and practice wherein capitalism can work with altruism in a substantive and meaningful way. That, though, may need to come from sources other than the politicians (because, let’s be frank, some of them are so busy electioneering and point-scoring that they’re losing the ability to THINK THROUGH PROPERLY and DO).
Please donate to the DEC, thanks!
I wrote this before I left for Xmas vacation and set the publish button for 01 January 2010, but it didn’t activate so here’s the post (published manually — Wordpress glitch and now I understand why none of my friends were aware I was on my travels and offline!).
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Where it begins and how it ends,
I seek no answers for,
Mid-flight whilst another dawn breaks,
Is the only state of now I can sense—
All else being ambient expanse,
A vacuum,
No echoes,
Soul secrets not to be heard nor spoken of.
Who sits and steps beside me,
A mystery, an odyssey, an ocean of life,
I don’t dive—
In case I drown or disturb that reverie,
A silent moment of still,
Life only in my breath.
No memories of pasts forgotten with fleeting blinks,
Smiles painted on mask-like faces sauntering along — anon,
Places that spark some profound residual belonging,
Tribal,
Homecoming,
The limbs and gasps and scintillations of love,
Asleep I dream only of reality,
Once more mid-flight towards a future in flux.
REALITIES AND RESOLUTIONS
As 2010 starts, I’m in one of my favorite countries (Italy) and my resolutions for this decade are S-I-M-P-L-E:
* Smart Innovation, Meaningful Perseverance, LOL Evolution
Hope you all have a wonderful 2010!
To all readers:
The photo is from Hamleys toy store Christmas window display. It shows one little bear in the bottom right trying to saw off the legs of his Dad’s chair and another little bear swinging from the chandeliers which made me LOL! This is probably the sweetest and wittiest display I’ve seen in recent years and I love it.
LAST-MINUTE XMAS SHOPPING
After yesterday’s experiences I now know NOT to go into my usual Chinese supermarket on Christmas Eve. Naively, I thought queues would only afflict Western grocery stores, but oh no! The queue I ended up in was about 15 people deep and it was almost impossible to move along the aisles (not helped by the fact most Chinese supermarkets have tiny aisles because we don’t use trolleys and we’re physically tiny). So I endured queuing discomforts all for the sake of picking up some Pangasius Strykker (similar to catfish) for Saturday’s lunch, white fungus (to make a classic Chinese sweet pudding broth) and some grass jelly drinks to go with my Christmas lunch.
CHRISTMAS LUNCH
I’ve NEVER cooked turkey and, if I ever did, I’d probably do a sticky barbeque version with the turkey marinated overnight in my special mixture (hoisin sauce, soy sauce, tomato puree, orange honey, cumin, fennel, coriander, black pepper and sesame oil). There would be no sausage meet stuffing; instead we’d have dried fruits and bell peppers soaked in some brandy, flavored with 5 spices and bound with breadcrumbs, eggs and corn starch. Then I’d make roast potatoes and stir-fried vegetables (sugar snap peas, various mushrooms and baby carrots). To finish I’d serve a Kirsch brandy triple chocolate gateau with lashings of whipped cream and pan-fried plums.
HOWEVER, as usual, I’m not cooking a traditional Christmas lunch. This is what I’m making:
* Roasted smoky BBQ rabbit legs, wrapped in bacon and served with sautéed vegetables (parsnips and sugar snap peas) and a sticky BBQ dressing
* Crispy fried rabbit quarters in an Italian herbs and mixed nuts batter
* Golden aroma chili crab (my absolute favorite)
* Stuffed roasted peppers (with chicken, couscous and coriander)
* Desirée potatoes (sliced, parboiled and then grilled with olive oil and seasoning)
* Salad of roquette, lettuce, coriander, peppers and mixed seeds
* A creamy pear and mango pudding with polenta
After this, everyone will be on a diet for about 3 months — ha ha.
LONDON LIGHTS
Here are some Xmas lights at Harrods and Harvey Nicks:
BOXING DAY SALES
This photo made me think. Reports are that people were queuing from as early as 2 AM outside stores for the Boxing Day sales. Most stores started their sales promotions before Christmas, but the brand label stores like Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Bond Street ones, etc. have waited until Boxing Day. The police are positioned at various stores like Selfridges and Gucci to control the crowds (and to prevent fisticuffs breaking out).
There are lots of items on offer for 50% reduction and, apparently, the women are going crazy over GBP500 handbags which now cost about GBP250-300 — as can be seen in the picture below:
No, there will be no handbags at dawn for me; I have 0 interest in GBP exorbitant handbags or household clutter I don’t need. There are more interesting ways to spend money!
NEW YEAR 2010
I’ll be in Italy somewhere — that is if there’s no repeat of snow and the flights aren’t grounded.
Have a wonderful weekend of festivities with your families, all, and here’s hoping you give and receive meaningful presents!
Today would have been my father’s 66th birthday if he hadn’t passed away following a coma, induced by a fall and the resultant head injury. It’s also a year today that I posted the ‘Global Brain’ onto Google Knol, which has won every Knol community award possible. On top of that, Thanksgiving falls on this Thursday so it’s quite a day of triangulated serendipity and personal peace.
I was thinking about my father earlier this week because a story surfaced about Rom Houben, a Belgian engineering student, who was diagnosed to have been in a coma for 23 years and now seems to be communicating that he was conscious and could hear the entire time:
· http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,663022,00.html
· http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8378262.stm
· http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/24/coma.man.belgium/index.html
· http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6930608.ece
· http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/man-trapped-coma-23-years
· http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-shermer/the-coma-man-hoax_b_371269.html
· http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/houben-communication/
As is clear in the Wired and Huffington Post articles, Houben’s story is not without its skeptics and detractors — particularly those who question the use of “facilitated communication” techniques and technologies and who liken his carer’s interpretations of Houben’s communiqués to be another form of Ouji board psychology.
However, personally, I’m a lot more interested in finding out about his neuroscientist, Dr. Steven Laureys’s, research and analysis at the Coma Science Group, Sart Tilman Liège University Hospital :
· http://www.coma.ulg.ac.be/home/steven.html
· http://fivanblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/conversation-with-dr-steven-laureys.html
· http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/63/5/916
Several of the news articles mention that the Glasgow Coma Scale is the current established methodology for establishing consciousness via checking physiological responses (eye opening, motor response to pain stimulus, verbal response), and it is this test that I openly challenge is INSUFFICIENT for establishing whether a person is conscious or not.
MY FATHER’S STORY: HOW I KNOW MORE NEEDS TO BE RESEARCHED
Let me share again my father’s story. My family entrusted me with the responsibility of visiting my father and dealing with the doctors AND THANK GOODNESS IT WAS ME because if it was a person less aware, intelligent and thorough than me, then the doctors would have gotten away with a pitiful letter in which they stated that my father was “completely unresponsive” during his coma state.
As a matter of legal record, they later had to apologize for this statement and also for the trauma caused to my family throughout my father’s situation in coroner’s court.
When the coroner notified us that this was the hospital and the neurosurgery team’s account of events (my father was unconscious the whole time, they claimed) and the basis of why they thought there was no need to appear in the coroner’s court to explain any further the medical situation that befell my father, I immediately sent the coroner mobile phone videos I’d made which clearly showed that my father WAS RESPONSIVE, was aware of our presence and could hear us. I also sent the coroner transcripts of the conversations we’d tried to conduct with him and the expression changes in his face.
Initially, there was to be no appearances in the coroner’s court by any professional parties involved. My father’s case was supposed to be a simple letter to the family and case closed.
Needless to say, after I provided the evidence and my account, the neurosurgeon, the hospital trust representative (they were concerned about us taking legal action against them), the ambulance staff and the policeman who found my father collapsed on the streets ALL had to appear in the coroner’s court and account for themselves, under oath.
It’s from personal experience that I know the Glasgow coma scale, the ECGs and the MRI scans are insufficient and that the medical profession needs to explore additional tools and tests to establish human consciousness (physiological as it manifests in the limbs as well as a neural phenomenon).
This is why in the ‘Global Brain’ knol I make a reference to a model of consciousness that challenges the orthodoxy of what neuroscientists think we know about the brain and consciousness. Just because my father had lost his command of communication and physiological control of his limbs, did NOT mean he was unconscious. In my model of consciousness, I list these characteristics to define consciousness:
To this day, I remain convinced that my father could sense our presence — whether that was via hearing our voices or sensing our touch. I believe this because no doctor or nurse in the world (who regards the patient as a number on a ward, only drops by a patient’s bedside to conduct some insufficiently informative tests for 5 minutes and have no emotional history with that patient) are going to spot changes in the coma patient’s face when he recognizes and is cognizant of either the face, voice or touch of cultural inputs he’s familiar with.
The doctors and nurses are ignorant and not there when that happens.
However, family members who sit with their loved one all the hours permitted DO KNOW even the subtlest changes in the person’s face. Then when the mobile video evidence is provided that’s when the doctors and nurses apologize for writing ridiculous statements like the patient was “completely unresponsive” and a level of care which was not what it should have been.
In all probability I’ll contact Dr. Laureys and share my father’s story because becoming more informed about states of consciousness is important and will affect how the medical profession takes care of coma patients and communicate with their families. For example, the neurosurgeons told my mother and I that they had little hope of my father’s chances of survival right next to his hospital bed. That’s one of many procedures I’d change. Personally, I always worked on the belief and principle that my father could hear and sense us. Therefore, in my view, that comment by the doctors should NOT have been said in the same room as him, much less right next to his bed. I included that in my statement to the coroner too, which got another apology from the lead neurosurgeon.
My family was slightly apprehensive when I said I was not going to accept the hospital’s original letter and that it was not only an inaccurate account of my father’s final days, it was also disrespectful to my mother because the information they provided could not help her towards closure or proper grieving. In the end, everyone was glad I did get the professionals to appear at the coroner’s court and the hospital apologized to my mother. That means a lot.
I hope that all readers, whoever and wherever they are, will cherish the time they share with people they love and who are important to them — particularly today at Thanksgiving.
As for my father, I know he’s happy and at peace. We were there beside him and did what we could during his final days and thereafter. We showed love, care, humor, honor and respect.