Blogging Around: Suicide, Lost in Space, Harry Dresden

THE RED DOOR FOUNDATION
A worthy ministry intended to provided practical support to families grieving the loss of a loved one from suicide.

The Red Door Foundation is a charity that my living children and I want to set up and run in memory of Anthony, my oldest son who died by suicide on March 8, 2017. These are our first objectives:

• pay for 6 therapy sessions for each member of the immediate family of someone who has died by suicide in our community right after the death.
  
• give children who have lost a parent to suicide a build a bear certificate
  
• work with victim services of our local police department to offer dinner/food/hotel for families who lose a family member to suicide the day of the death. (this was a lifesaver in my family’s life since we lost Anthony in our home)
  
• the big goal is to open a free mental health clinic in our town preferably at our parish and expand into the surrounding areas and as far as we can manage.

This is the dream and the idea. What we need is about $1,000 to set it all up. That includes getting a logo, a website, 501c3 status and a CPA to make sure everything is legit. We will be working to raise the money to set up as well as to cover the expenses for up to 6 families. Since Anthony’s suicide, there has been five more in our immediate community.

Find out more here. Via National Catholic Register which has an interview with founders Leticia Adams and Gabe Jacobs.


LOST IN SPACE — NOT WESTWORLD, BUT NOT BAD

Lost in Space is not likely to be a show like West World, which deliberately probes the roots and meaning of consciousness in a way that at least tries to be philosophic. Instead, Lost in Space tackles what it means to be a person by approaching the matter through morality and friendship. What is important about the Robot is not really how he could be a moral agent, but, as with the Cylons in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica (to which Lost in Space bears some similarities), that it is a moral agent. By examining the Robot’s moral awakening, Lost in Space actually has something to teach us about moral education...

I hadn't paid much attention to Netflix's Lost in Space reboot but this commentary makes me think I'll give it a try.

HARRY DRESDEN — BELOW THE SURFACE
Melanie Bettanelli's been writing some thoughtful pieces about the most recent developments in the Harry Dresden series. I’ve really been enjoying them. I really disliked the book right before Harry reappears as a ghost and so was over with the series. But I like seeing what’s going on below the surface since I’ve been gone. 🙂

• Hitting Rock Bottom: Human Sacrifice in the Dresden Files
• Drinking with Gods, Part 1: Wine with Hades
• Drinking with Gods, Part 2: Beer with Odin

NEUTRALITY AND ASSISTED SUICIDE

At its recent House of Delegates meeting, the American Medical Association voted to continue to study the principled stance against physician-assisted suicide that has been part of its Code of Ethics since 1994: “Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.”

Advocates of assisted suicide have tried for two years to change this stance to one of “neutrality.” With this vote for delay and further review they will surely continue to do so. But as the AMA’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) rightly said after an intensive study of the issue, such “neutrality” can be read as “little more than acquiescence with the contested practice.”

It has been read exactly that way wherever a state medical society has decided to go “neutral” on a proposal to legalize the practice. It sends the signal that there is no serious problem with doctors prescribing lethal drugs so their patients can kill themselves.

At a personal level, neutrality means indifference. As a patient, I’m not sure which statement from my doctor would be more upsetting: “In case you ever ask, I’m willing to help you kill yourself,” or “I simply don’t care whether you kill yourself or not.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan has much more to say and it's all good.

For my part, I think this is a good reminder that when we appear neutral about some evil then that neutrality is taken as assent or, at the very least, indifference.

It is certainly ironic that in a world where we are decrying several recent celebrity suicides, we also find people fighting so hard for the right to help people kill themselves. There is a disassociation between the two that isn't being pointed out.

INCREDIBLES 2
I've just got to say that our whole family is excited to see the great reviews that are showing up for this movie. The first was one of the best Pixar gave us, and that's a very high bar. It looks as if this one is in the same league! Can't wait to see it ... though we probably will let the crush die down for a week or two before we get to the theater.