Update to an earlier post

Just over a year ago I wrote this post, regarding Linda Osmundson, a prominent resident of the St. Petersburg, Florida area, who was the founder of a local organization dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence. She was also a Christian Scientist, and was forced to resign her position with the organization she founded due to a very obvious health concern in the form of a growth on her face. Sadly, I have recently learned that she has succumbed to whatever her illness was (she apparently did have a diagnosis, but never shared it publicly).

Just Because You Can, Should You?

Morality can be a shifting line, and there are definitely some gray areas. For some, living in a sexual relationship outside of marriage is absolutely immoral, for many others, it’s not. It’s not illegal to have sex outside of marriage, or for couples in relationships to live together outside of marriage, but just because it’s not illegal, is it right to do this? Many will argue that it’s not ok. I don’t care either way. But, I have a different issue in mind here outside of sexual morality (a very weird subject in connection to Christian Science, by the way). My issue relates to the raising and protecting of children.

Standing By

Image Credit: Bryant McGill (from his Facebook Page) (see: http://www.bryantmcgill.com)

One of the toughest things in life for a former Christian Scientist is dealing with friends and family who are still in Christian Science. Fortunately for me, I have no family members who are still in the faith, but I do have a number of friends who are, although I am not in close or regular contact with most of them outside of the occasional Facebook interactions. For those who still deal closely with people still in Christian Science, these relationships become especially tough if the Christian Scientist friend becomes seriously ill, and especially if that Christian Scientist is a close family member like a parent or sibling. All too often, the non-Christian Scientist gets shut out.

Savour Every Moment

“If we remembered every day that we could lose someone at any moment, we would love them more fiercely and freely, and without fear–not because there is nothing to lose, but because everything can always be lost.”
~Facebook meme (Womenworking.com)

Jagged Little Knife (Poem)

I felt unusually inspired to try and riff on some perhaps not-so-good poetry tonight. It’s free verse, stream of conscience, I’ve done very little editing. I hate rules sometimes, but I’ll always hate Christian Science more.

We were three, now we are one,
They were mortal; we all are,
No matter what you say.

Mothers’ Day

Clematis flowers in my Mom’s garden. (Image credit: Emerging Gently)

For reasons my long-time readers will know, my feelings about some holidays are conflicted. For my newer readers and those who haven’t explored some older postings, read this series of posts that were part of the original raison d’être for this blog. Mothers’ Day is no exception. In the first few years after my mother died, Mothers’ Day was an in-your-face reminder to me of someone I felt was unfairly and painfully ripped out of my life, and the lives of those close to her. The first Mothers’ Day after my Mom died came just two months after her death. It was not an easy day to say the least.

Frustration

Thinking about Christian Science and not only what it did to me and my family, but what I’ve seen it do to others, and/or make them do to themselves, I feel varying mixtures of anger and frustration. Too many people needlessly suffer and sometimes die while they pray in Christian Science for an ever-elusive healing.

Death and the Christian Scientist

Christian Scientists sometimes have some of the most bizarre reactions to death of any group of people you will likely ever encounter. The reactions range from Stepfordesque emotionless stupor; to abnormal and inappropriate joy, happiness, and acting as if nothing at all out of the ordinary has even happened. Some things I have seen or that have been related to me are (or should be) to most people, truly bizarre.

Monkeys With Machine Guns

In a conversation I had with a business acquaintance a few years ago, we were discussing a multi-level marketing company we had both at different times had a brush with, which sells various financial and investment instruments through a network of independent distributors, most of whom have no prior experience or education in the finance or investment fields. He had gone much farther with the company than I did and became a representative and manger for awhile before realizing how flawed the company’s business model was and leaving. I attended one informational meeting at the behest of another friend of mine who was a distributor. When I rather quickly realized the business was a multi-level marketing scheme, I beat a hasty retreat. My acquaintance likened the company’s business model to “giving machine guns to monkeys”. This was his very astute way of describing the handing over of a complex task to someone completely unqualified for it. You’d think that no reasonably sane person would do that, but many do–sometimes with disastrous results for their financial portfolios. Personally, I’ll stick with a financial advisor who has the requisite business or economics degree, and relevant experience.

Responsibility & Blame

Warning: I’m ranting…some profanity ahead…

I was driving home from work the other day, and as is often the case, I seem to do my best thinking in the car. Finally putting the story of my parents’ deaths to paper, so to speak, has caused me to think a lot about that event; something I haven’t done for a while. I began to think, “who or what is responsible for the way they died?” Now, straight up, I’ll admit they didn’t die young as many Christian Scientists do. Mom was 81; Dad was 79. They both died in the same year. However, they died in great pain, agony, and suffering–especially Mom, who died with no pain abatement available to her at all in a Christian Science nursing facility with a large tumour in her abdomen. At least I got Dad to the hospital where he was made comfortable, and his physical situation was stabilized as much as it could be, although he did suffer a lot for many years from the effects of heart failure until it finally caught up with him.