Saturday, April 02, 2005

The "Young People's" Pope John Paul II - 1920-2005

The Lord finally took him into His House. The world is mourning. Following his well-CNN-recorded struggle, I finally got to know him beter than ever....heard things about him, well known to everybody, that I might have shut my soul for...why?, I don't know...John Paul was my 5th Pope, but now I do realize that for my children he was their only and first Pope....and he didn't die alone...some 60-70.000 of his family were present to support him on his last voyage to his Saviour...

Sebastiaan and Veronica, I would like to apologize to you for having criticized him so much, I don't know why, but I must have lived on another planet for some years. It was so moving to see all those essentially young people participating in a world-wide and international wake, to support the man who had loved them so much and now they were there for him, to pray with him, for him and to ask the good Lord to end his suffering. And so He did........

The only excuse I might have for my behaviour could be my dissapointment with the conservatism he was a champion for. I had great hopes after Pope John 23d that the world could change for the better, even in the church. But so didn't happen. Sebastiaan mostly agreed with what I said, but made it clear that "it was the wrong century Pappa!" Maybe that time will come now, maybe we will get a new Pope who will have to work really hard to obtain what this Pope achieved in his life-time. And continues to build and build....

Having fully followed the wakes of the last 2 nights, I might go to sleep tonight thanking God for this extraordinary
representative He called Home....and may he rest in peace....

Friday, April 01, 2005

Death, Honesty and Respect

The case Terri Schiavo has shown again that people seems to need a kind of "treatment last will". Regardless of the typical American way of trampling all over ones rights (and I do hope the American public will remember at the next election which senators, including Senator nr.1 their own President, tried to bend the American Constitution and their judges and that they never will be elected again) one seems to need a clear description how to be treated when lying in a hospital without any possibility to recover. And I do hope this case will be the startingpoint for a real discussion about respect and the last will of people....or just respect for the difficult situation other people/countries might be in....Americans have a problem with spelling that word: R-E-S-P-E-C-T !!!!!!!

Yesterday I filled out such a will, a Norwegian one, so my kids will know what I want when that day should come, God forbid......it might not be juridical valid, but there's where the word RESPECT comes in....

I still wonder why those supporters in front of that hospice tried to "save Terri"? Her soul was gone to the Lord for 15 years ago, just the plant-like body was left....sounds harsh, but that's what vegetative state means...in car-terms: the motor is running but the gearbox is gone.........and worse: even the so-called educated people at the Senate and the House didn't realise that they were trying to support the rights of a plant.....

I'm very happy that the Dutch realise that respect is an essential part of life, hence their legislation in this difficult field...

The Pope: I do hope the good Lord will take him to His Yard soon. He's done a great job here on earth and I must say: Lord, why did You give him so much pain and sorrow after all he succeeded with? He was a true representative for You...so, please spare him this suffering...and give us one back as good and diplomatic as he was....but a bit more liberal....more one of us, more a modern Leader....we all need that..