To be honest, the above is half the reason I'm on this trip. Travelers actually like to talk.
you are the media you consume.
The solution to the problem of elders is to incorporate them into a family with several generations living together.
Not if said elder is abusive in any way or if there has been major dysfunction between relatives. I understand making multigenerational living more socially acceptable for those who want to do it, but let's keep assisted living/nursing homes in the realm of the socially acceptable as well.
I have freaked out many friends by saying that the final act of social defiance is to end one's life on one's own terms, but that is what I believe. To relatives and others who say that this is for God to decide I have said: "God either doesn't care or is a sadistic bastard." I love life and want to live as long as I can in conditions that are satisfactory to myself, but no longer. Then I want to be able to drink my cyanide Cool-Aid. By trying to oppose such self determined actions all these folks are doing is putting pressure on people to end their lives while they still have the power to do so on their own, and earlier than they otherwise would have to do so.
There used to be a Hemlock Society. Somewhere I have an envelope full of practical information from them. They appear to have a successor organization.successor organization. I haven't checked them out. I hope that I have another 20-30 years before I will need them. I hope by that time that such issues will be dealt with more rationally.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast. Man n'er is but is always to be blest. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
I have my suspicions. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
But the Romans fully approved of what might be termed "patriotic suicide"; death, in other words, as an alternative to dishonour... They disapproved of Mark Antony not because he killed himself, but that he killed himself for love.
Institution in this case means the entire medical establishment geared toward the illusion of privacy in medical records when the reality is far from it. Download it in both formats while you still can.
http://www.patientprivacyrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Who_Can_See_Your_Medical_Records
