So, Geezer, rappy, in your ideal world, what should happen?
POSTED BY: 1kiki
UPDATED: Wednesday, March 26, 2025 17:09
VIEWED: 12173
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I was out shopping the other day and met an interesting woman. Mid 50s, well-dressed and stylish, obviously intelligent and well-educated. (Get your minds out of the gutter, boys.)
The thing that caught my attention was she walked with a walker, dragged one leg a little, her face was a little slack on the same side, and she had pretty obvious difficulties talking. We chatted for quite a while because I was curious what she had to say. Well, her speech was rather elliptical. It looked like she was having problems formulating what was in her mind into beginnings, middles and ends. The topics wandered a bit, one idea would associate with another, then circle back to the beginning. And every now and again, she'd look up and say with difficulty but conviction 'Look at the sky'.
'We live on such a tiny planet.'
'You never know what's going to happen.'
But as I understood her story it goes something like this: She was born on a lot of acreage, and spent her childhood riding horses. She then lived in Hollywood, then got married, and moved up to the mountains. Many years after that, something happened. She didn't say what that was and I couldn't tell. I didn't see any obvious divots like from major traumatic injury or brain surgery, but then, she wore a quirky cap over short hair. And now she lives with her mother, a very straight-laced and prudish 83 year old who looks after her.
What I understood from what the woman was saying was that she wanted to go to bar and get drunk. To pick up a man. To sit on a bench with a friend and watch people go by and comment back and forth. To sit on a hillside with friends and watch the clouds. To meet interesting people like the friends she used to have and associate with the adventures in their lives. To do SOMEthing fun, and human, and capable, and not just take a cab to the store and then go home to her stifling life with mother.
But, my opinion, aside from quietly going crazy, she's safe and cared for for the while.
At some point, though, her mother will pass away. And then what.
So, Geezer, rappy, in your ideal world, what should happen?
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I read this post primarily because it was presented in your own words, with no 'links', and no spin as to what others were saying. I found that interesting.
I will sidebar and dispense w/ the usual sorts of comments which often accompany our replies on here.
And while I'll take the accounts posted at face value, and not question the validity, I must note, you did seem to obtain a fair amount of info about this person, her life, while you were out shopping. Was this a casual acquaintance ? First time meeting of happenstance ? Just wondering.
My first reply, though not to sound flippant - " Yeah, a real tale of woe "
And by that I mean, life ain't always fair. In the purest libertarian sense, I really don't know what to say. Stephen Hawking would like to do a lot of stuff too. And I could go on and on, but I'll stick to the matter of this woman.
Ideal world ? She'd have a clean, safe and happy place to live out her life. Based on what's posted, and due to the fact that I'm not by any means in a field which deals w/ individuals such as her, in terms of mental or physical care. And besides the basics, who can really say what she " needs " ? Is it our place to say ? Are we hoping to look after her interests, or ours ?
Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen
I'm just a red pill guy in a room full of blue pill addicts.
" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall
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"First time meeting of happenstance." We chatted for about an hour and a half on the sidewalk. She wasn't capable of finding her way to the nearest bar, and she wanted me to take her and be her wing-woman. I didn't privately think she should either go there, or drink (especially not knowing if she was prone to seizures or on any medication), or be left alone there, though I didn't express that. So we chatted on the sidewalk.
Also, she's had some type of brain injury. There are things about her that don't add up to the normal casual social encounter.
So, in your ideal world, how does she get a safe place where she can live out her life?
To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. - Thomas Paine The American Crisis
OONJERAH - We are too dumb to live and smart enough to wipe ourselves out.
"You, who live in any kind of comfort or convenience, do not know how these people can survive these things, do you? They will endure because there is no immediate escape from endurance. Some will die, the rest must live."
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Quote:
She'd have a clean, safe and happy place to live out her life.
Clean and safe sounds basic. Happy sounds expensive.
I suppose in a purely libertarian world, society would meet her basic needs, but no further. Her care would not be stimulating, it would be minimal. If she were lucky there would be a private charity looking after her rather than a government program with a threadbare libertarian budget - but most likely she would not be so lucky.
It's not personal. It's just war.
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KPO - in the purest form, her care would be up to her family and or local community, church, what ever. What takes place later in her life should be greatly determined by what took place before. All of us are the sum of our choices. Not all the results are happy ones. Even if we make the " right " choices, things can turn out pretty damn bad.
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I'm reasonably sure you recognize that we all inescapably have times in our lives when we're dependent on people around us and receive more than we can produce - when we're young, when we're sick or injured, and when we're old. And that sometimes through no fault of anyone's there are people who are disabled. And that sometimes through no fault of anyone's there are people who lose their entire family before them.
That this happens is inescapable in the context of human life.
So, what is your answer for the woman? In your ideal world, when circumstances stack up and you're disabled and alone, what should happen?
To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. - Thomas Paine The American Crisis
OONJERAH - We are too dumb to live and smart enough to wipe ourselves out.
"You, who live in any kind of comfort or convenience, do not know how these people can survive these things, do you? They will endure because there is no immediate escape from endurance. Some will die, the rest must live."
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Quote:
KPO - in the purest form, her care would be up to her family and or local community, church, what ever.
True. And lots of people (particularly in poor areas) would fall through the cracks, and none of that help would reach them, and they would be left to languish, and die.
It's not personal. It's just war.
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Not this ?
Quote:
An 89 year-old retired British art teacher, who was able to be admitted to the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland with the help of the Society for Old Age Rational Suicide (SOARS), has committed suicide.
The woman, Anne, from Sussex, who was neither terminally ill nor seriously handicapped, said in an interview with the Sunday Times just days before her death that she wanted to kill herself because she had had enough of “swimming against the current” of the world. The former art teacher and Royal Navy engineer said she had become exasperated with the modern world of emails, televisions, computers, and supermarket-ready meals.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/04/08/89-Year-Old-British-Woma
n-Helped-Into-Swiss-Clinic-By-SOARS-Commits-Suicide
I honestly don't know, 1kiki. It seems like you want to force me to give a fully inclusive answer, but to be honest, I have neither the experience in this area, the entire story of this woman's life, nor much inclination or incentive to say much more than I already have.
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Quote:
Originally posted by kpo:Quote:
KPO - in the purest form, her care would be up to her family and or local community, church, what ever.
True. And lots of people (particularly in poor areas) would fall through the cracks, and none of that help would reach them, and they would be left to languish, and die.
It's not personal. It's just war.
That pretty much happens already.
Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen
I'm just a red pill guy in a room full of blue pill addicts.
" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall
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"I honestly don't know, 1kiki. It seems like you want to force me to give a fully inclusive answer, but to be honest, I have neither the experience in this area, the entire story of this woman's life, nor much inclination or incentive to say much more than I already have."
Well, I was wondering if you had any place for her in your ideal world. What happens to her? Is she left to the whims of circumstance and time? Or is there notice taken that dependency is inevitable for all people some of the time, and for some people all of the time?
To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. - Thomas Paine The American Crisis
OONJERAH - We are too dumb to live and smart enough to wipe ourselves out.
"You, who live in any kind of comfort or convenience, do not know how these people can survive these things, do you? They will endure because there is no immediate escape from endurance. Some will die, the rest must live."
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