Wake-Up Call

This might almost be a follow-up to Alexander. It's about chimes that ring for bravery, as Barry has had to face with his dying mother and his own cancer - and it's about chimes for those that cash out early, as Joe Stack chose to do in Austin with the IRS. Just as bloggers globally were ringing bells for Barry at 2 p.m. Feb. 18, analysts were micro-dissecting Stack's suicide note, in which he excoriates the IRS for not saving him from his own problems.

I know two suicide victims who always chose to follow the path of entitlement, not enlightenment, and wondered why they didn't get an entry-level job at the top executive level, or why people didn't appreciate them stealing silverware. I know a few other people with serious health problems who choose to spend too much time in fear, frightened and wondering how they can garner more sympathy. Barry is an example of those who choose to live in bravery.

A friend who heard about the IRS suicide flight said, "Sometimes living well is the best revenge", and I said that sometimes living is the best revenge. I have no one to seek revenge on, but it seems as though a continued struggle to live, create, and be autonomous is the best strategy to avoid dependency and looking for that magical entitlement. One, two, three, many Barry's, and many bells to ring them on!

Careful with that Axe, Eugene

An article in last week's Economist definitively answers the question,
"Is it ever appropriate to completely wipe out a parasitic species that seems to have no positive role in the food chain?" It's happening with Helicobacter Pylori, the infamous cause of stomach ulcer and gastric cancer. Now that less than 5 percent of U.S. children have H. pylori, scientists are discovering the endangered bacterium just might do a few good things. Since it seems to regulate stomach acid, its absence is causing more reflux syndromes and esophogeal cancers. Since kids use H. pylori as a priming agent for beefing up the immune system, its absence is causing more asthma. As with the hidden hazards of using germicidal soaps, the law of unintended consequences applies big time. No doubt the same could be said for mosquitoes, ticks, and homo sapiens...