Wednesday, January 28, 2009

No mas...

Shall we?

There were two stories in the news yesterday that are linking in my mind…the birth of eight babies and the death of a family of seven.

One led the news this morning.

The other moved quickly from breaking news to news round-ups into the second half hour of a morning sorta-news shows this morning.

Eight babies were born to one mother at the Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Centre in Los Angeles in California. Mother and multiples are apparently doing well.

Seven people…an entire family…were found dead after an apparent murder-suicide in California. Notes allegedly left by the husband and father indicate that he and his wife had recently been terminated from positions as medical technicians at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in West Los Angeles.

The come joy.

And with it pain.

Sunshine.

Followed by rain.

I can’t help but wonder at the strange connection…not that there is some sort of mystical power associated with Kaiser Permanente, but that two family related stories so radically different somehow connected there.

That a team of damn near 50 people can work in concert to give eight babies the best medical care…

…even as a team from the Coroner’s office worked to empty a home of a family of seven.

I don’t know the back-story for either family...the who, what, when and why of it all is a mystery.

But seeing them both within the same news cycle reminded me that we so often celebrate creation then neglect that which has been created.

And there has to be some lesson here to learn…something teachable to be found in that place where life and death meet between commercial breaks on television.

Something...anything more than...

No mas.

No mas.

No mas.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

yes, that is very ironic. I also heard with the babies, the parents thought they were having 7 and out pops 8. The one was hiding from the ultrasounds.

Anonymous said...

thank you for your powerful thoughts, today. i'm forwarding the link to this post to as many folks as i can.

btw, you've been a major blogcrush of mine for awhile.

be good and stuff,

b.

Infuriated Faggot said...

While birth is exciting and all that jazz, you are absolutely right...we are neglectful of the loin fruit...

I mean...will these 8 kids be educated? Will they be able to find work? Will they have a quality of life that doesn't lead to a murder- suicide?

As for "no mas..." are you "no mas-in'" one family having 8 kids...? Because I give a Ya Basta! to that!

Same for the murder-suicide...a sign of the times I guess...some people stay in and fuck when they're jobless and destitute, others kill.

Ole!

The Bear Maiden said...

Wow, the connection was completely lost on me... I heard about the births but was really marveling at the deaths for several reasons.

Life is something. And God has a strange sense of humor.

Anonymous said...

Funny, I didn't realize the Kaiser Permanente connection, I did think the two simultaneous stories was kind of tragically ironic.

I'm wising all the best for both families.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, the story makes me wonder if I'm just hard-hearted, but I can't help thinking that having eight children at once is irresponsible. How much quality time is/are the parent(s) going to be able to give to each child? What about the other six? I don't see it as a miracle or a blessing. I think it's a travesty. Those poor kids...what kind of life will they have? Sort of akin to the way TLC plays up that horrible Duggar family. Please, women are not brood mares!

Anonymous said...

Oh, the story about those 8 babies brought me about as much joy as the other one. The mom has no hubby, her mother is not supportive of her decision, because she's already taking care of the other six, says her daughter is "obsessed" with children...

It seems to me a symptom of the state of our culture these days. People have kids because it's trendy, or they feel like it, or because they're searching for unconditional love and can't find it anywhere else.

Meanwhile the human population rides its rollercoaster car up to the top of that infamous (to population biologists) J-curve...

Color me demoralized.

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