Monthly Archives: November 2011

News: MetLife Study of Elder Financial Abuse

Posted on November 30, 2011 by dgermann

Here is an updated study: http://www.metlife.com/mmi/research/elder-financial-abuse.html

:- Doug.

Posted in Aging, Family, News | Leave a comment

Hearing takes more effort than listening

Posted on November 30, 2011 by dgermann

Hearing takes more effort than listening
Hearing draws a smaller circle
—in us
—of the other
Hearing makes the other real to us
& opens our heart
Though this circle is smaller
It serves the all by opening us out

:- Doug.

Posted in Conversation, Healing and Wholeness | Leave a comment

Walking through doors makes us forget

Posted on November 19, 2011 by dgermann

Hi–

A new Notre Dame study shows why walking through doorways makes us forget: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/237974.php

:- Doug.

Posted in Aging, News | Leave a comment

Imprisoning people with Alzheimer’s

Posted on November 16, 2011 by dgermann

The face of disability is changing and it is us. We are becoming an aging society and our living longer has revealed to us new accouterments of aging in the form of various dementias, most of which are physical. Our laws and our views of the rights of people need to keep pace. Should a person so afflicted be imprisoned in one place, unable to change residence to a place where she can be more free, better cared for? We have a right to move about the country—if we have our full physical faculties. But as soon as those faculties have waned, we say they cannot change the legal status of their lives. Is this in keeping with our highest values of freedom?

:- Doug.

Posted in Aging, Caring | Leave a comment

Weeding another’s garden

Posted on November 9, 2011 by dgermann

Weeding another’s garden
A task I now own
I’d hoped but not so easily done
More work than I thought
Why’d they give me this job?
I have other things to do
The weeds among the flowers
The vegetables need picking
Where to start? Where to start?
I see a lone flower, what’s that wet
On my cheek?
I pull out weeds and and a flower too
I grow angry at the weeds—no, at you
I sit here in the midst of all this and
Realize I have been sitting here for
Minutes? Hours? Years of memory
Have taken over
Probate is weeding a garden

:- Doug.

Posted in Estates Administration & Probate, Family, Poetry | Leave a comment

Yes it’s true: Holy Smoke

Posted on November 2, 2011 by dgermann

Hi–

I thought it was a joke when I got the email: someone offering to load your cremated remains in a shotgun (or larger!) shell so you can have one last turkey shoot. Then I found a reference in a legal publication.

Here is their website: http://www.myholysmoke.com/

Now there are alternatives for our hunting friends. Happy hunting!

:- Doug.

Posted in Death and dying, News | Leave a comment

Is tells us Do

Posted on November 2, 2011 by dgermann

Is tells us Do

Emergency! How do you make the best decisions for your loved one in a medical emergency? You need to converse. The conversation’s words do not give a recipe for what to do; we cannot cover every possible contingency. Instead, conversing tells us who this person Is, and knowing the Is informs us what to Do in unforeseen circumstances. Is tells us Do.

But why do we do? Yes, to make life or death better for your loved one. Yes, to make your decisions easier. But that is not the point of conversing. The point is love: loving a person helps them be who they are, and helps us be who we are, and helps us both together be who we are together. Do helps us Is.

Is tells us Do
Do helps us Is

:- Doug.

  1. Is tells us Do

    Emergency! How do you make the best decisions for your loved one in a medical emergency? You need to converse. The conversation’s words do not give a recipe for what to do; we cannot cover every possible contingency. Instead, conversing tells us who this person Is, and knowing the Is informs us what to Do in unforeseen circumstances. Is tells us Do.

    But why do we do? Yes, to make life or death better for your loved one. Yes, to make your decisions easier. But that is not the point of conversing. The point is love: loving a person helps them be who they are, and helps us be who we are, and helps us both together be who we are together. Do helps us Is.

    Is tells us Do
    Do helps us Is

Posted in Conversation, Emergency/Crisis Medical, Family, Healing and Wholeness | Leave a comment