December brings us the joy of Christmas time and at the same time a reminder that another year is coming to an end. We celebrated some of the joy with a visit to Disney World. We went to see the “Candlelight Procession and Massed Choir Program” We try each year to attend it. We missed last year due to my being still in recovery from pneumonia. It is an inspirational program held at America Garden Theater in Epcot. It is an open arena type auditorium. Over 400 voices from choirs around the United States sing. They are on stadium like seats that rise from the stage. They fill the ends of the stage. The center is filled with singers in green robes who sit in similar seats but at the top there is only one person. As the seats go down towards the stage, there are more and more singers added as they reach the stage floor. These singers are Walt Disney World Cast members who volunteer. They form a human Christmas Tree. At the bottom of the tree is a podium on which a celebrity narrates the Christmas story. In front of the narrator are the “Voices of Liberty” an a cappella ensemble, which performs at this American site at Epcot. An orchestra composed of fifty or more professional musicians from Central Florida fills the rest of the stage.
The choir comes into the theater carrying lighted candles as the orchestra plays. After the stage is full the narrator is escorted in to the podium. The narrator changes from week to week starting November 23rd and ending December 30th. We had Stephen Curtis Chapman, a performer of Christian contemporary music and winner of five Grammy awards. When everyone is in place he begins the reading of the Christmas story from the gospel of Luke. After a short reading the choir then sings Christmas music. It is a wonderful musical event and makes the joy of Christmas seem even closer.
The event is so popular these days that even with tickets when we got into the ticket line it was some six to seven blocks in length even forty-five minutes before the program was to begin. Those without tickets had a line twice as long. When we were finally seated the theater was nearly full so we wondered how many stand- by’s made the performance. It reminded us that we should be sure to get tickets for next year and get them early! As we left the theater to head home fireworks accompanied us.
We had arrived at Disney around nine AM that morning. Our room was not yet available so we went to Magic Kingdom- another site. One of the first rides we visited was a favorite “Buzz Lightyear” It is a ride where two sit in round cart with laser guns in front of them and a device in the center to enable you to move the cart left or right or all the way around. The object is to shoot as many aliens as possible, which are flying around you on both sides as you move through the tunnel. You aim, press the button see rays fly at the target but seldom know whether you hit something or not. Your car keeps moving and you keep turning and firing. A score lights up in front of you showing how well you are doing. June and I have a contest every time we go. This year she trounced me twice.
On Wednesday night we were back at Magic Kingdom in the evening to watch the “Light Parade” The crowds were larger than we have seen in times we visited before. So June decided we needed to get a place early in order to be able to see the parade. She found a spot on the main street. It was on the curb and people were filling up around her and past her as she placed her bag and sat down. She would save my place with the bag as I went a sat at a chair next to tables in an Ice Cream parlor nearby. About an hour before the parade started members of the staff working the park came by and said all the tables chairs would be removed in a short time. They did so as people finished and left but I remained alone on a chair. One of the attendants came and said he had to take the chair but he could get me a wheel chair. I had told him about my back problem making standing too long increase the pain. I thanked him and then surrendered the chair. I told him my wife June, pointing to approximately where she was sitting, had saved me a spot on the curb for the parade. I would now head over there. It was still nearly an hour before the parade would come. About a half an hour before the parade came up came two staff people with a wheel chair! I was glad to sit down and I was grateful for their thoughtfulness. It was the epitome of Disney’s workers concern for those attending the sites.
This month contains birthdays: two sons, Tom and Bill, two grandsons, Sean & David, and two sisters Therese and Anne. Therese and Anne are celebrating in heaven the others here. Birthdays are celebrations of life. The end of the year reminds us of how fleeting life is and caused me to read an article about a campaign for euthanasia. A former Governor of Washington, Booth Garner, is waging a campaign for legislation in the state for ‘physician assisted suicide”. He is a victim of Parkinson’s disease. He was interviewed for the article and asked why he is doing this. His answer was “My life, My death, My control” (emphasis added) He claims that his statement is composed of ‘impeccable logic” But is it? Several states have attempted to pass such laws without success. The one proposed in Washington is similar to Oregon’s. The Washington law would not cover Parkinson disease since it isn’t terminal. So Gardner is trying for a law that would permit lethal prescriptions for people whose suffering is ‘unbearable’. This is the standard used in the Netherlands. As the author notes, this is a standard that elevates ‘subjective experience over objective appraisal’ and that could engage the government and medical profession in administration of widespread suicide. What is ‘unbearable’? The author interviewed others who have had experience with the practice under the statues like Oregon’s and Netherlands. He found there is much abuse of the “paper work” requirements. Most of the victims were the poor and women. The doctor’s excuses are that no one will object to the lack of paper work or if proper procedure is ignored in those cases. This is happening even where states require two physicians, a wait before execution, and consent of the patient. So as the author notes the decision as to what is legal comes down to the physician. But the author didn’t attack the thinking of people like Garner who states it is “My life, my death, my control” and claims it is ‘impeccable logic”. Isn’t life a gift? When did we get a ‘right’ to be alive? Did we somehow earn the right ? His logic is not impeccable when he fails to ask to how it came to be “My” life. To me reason or logic if you will, requires we ascertain where life comes from. When we do so we realized that it is not a ‘right’ but a gift. So from that point on the proposed ‘reason’ that it’s “My Life” fails and so do any of the grounds for euthanasia.
Another western state in the news these days is Iowa. The candidates for President have been campaigning there for months. Interesting also is that Iowa is the birthplace of successful polling. Michael Cowles started it in 1943 and was later helped and joined by George Gallup. Their system of random selection met with success where others failed. The article tells of the “Literary Digest’ attempting a polling. It heard from 2 million Americans in 1936. Its major flaw was it was mailed only to people who owned a phone or a motor vehicle. Such people were usually Republicans at that time and thus the result were heavily in favor of the Republican candidate. The result of their poor polling led them a short time later to go out of business. Gallup and Cowles even occasionally strayed from politics. In 1989 a poll determined that 11 percent of Iowans named their cares, 86 percent did not, 2 percent had no cars and 1 percent weren’t sure they named them or not. In 1977 they conducted one I liked. The poll determined that only 5 percent of Iowans expected to go to hell, but 31 percent knew someone else who was likely to go there!
We wish you the joy of the Christmas season! We hope the New Year brings you these Irish Blessings: May love and laughter light your days and warm your heart and home! May life’s passing seasons bring the best to you and yours in the New Year that comes!
Until next time, Pax Tecum!