Help Sam

Winnipeg, Canada - An 84-year-old Orthodox Jewish man is in danger of being euthanized by Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, despite protests from his family that the hospital’s decision violates their religion (as was reported on YWN).
Samuel Golubchuk, whose family has been waging a court battle to keep him alive since late last November, was hospitalized for pneumonia in October of 2007. Doctors have attempted to hasten his death by starvation and dehydration, tactics that have been barred by a temporary court order keeping Samuel alive.
Golubchuk’s family claims that he is recovering due to medical treatment, and although Golubchuk is awake and responsive, doctors refuse to acknowledge the fact to the courts. Goluchuk suffered some brain damage in a fall in 2003, but is still responsive and capable of communication.

Please go to http://www.samuelgolubchuk.com/ and sign the petition.

With your help, this man might have a continued chance to live by his own means.

(my husband knows this man and his family from his years of growing up in Winnipeg; when it becomes national news, and with this petition, international news, it truly is a sad situation, and we must help)

Not Open To Discussion

Over the years -- especially the blogging years -- I've made an observation. I don't know if it's merely coincidence or something personal and directed to me, but...

As some -- or many of you know, or have come to realize -- I like to talk. I am very detail-oriented, so that "colors" my conversations or my writings.

I also like to break down barriers.

I can be formal, if the situation calls for it, but more often than not, I'm very casual. When I'm referred to as Mrs. Saban, I say, "That's my mother-in-law. Call me Pearl."

I like to get beyond "Hi, how are ya" and often get to the guts of things.

Lately, I'm of the belief that most people aren't in to that.

While I'm busy writing from the heart and just "letting loose", some other people seem to put up an invisible wall. Am I overstepping boundaries in any way? Am I touching a personal nerve of any kind?

I've corresponded with several bloggers over the years and sometimes the emails are about my blog or theirs; other times it's about our lives.

But I've found that once the lines of communication are opened, they get shut down rather quickly. I write a note, the person writes back; or a person initiates it and I write back, thinking the lines are open, but the person doesn't respond...or is so very brief that it's clear my message wasn't read entirely.

It's like the concept of a "one hit wonder", but in this case it's a "one message, no more" phenomenon.

I guess it's simply the little girl in this grown woman's body who feels rejected. When it's not silence that I'm seeking from others, but it's silence that I receive, it hurts.

Of course, everyone has time limitations, so a back and forth rapport is perhaps not always possible, but if it's the other person who's started the ball rolling, and then doesn't catch it again,
it simply makes me wonder...

That's it. There ain't no more to say. Just as the title says, "Not open to discussion."

All in the Family

Last night we went to see my brother-in-law's new 10-week-old Labradoodle puppy, "Couscous".

When we got home, my youngest ran to greet Max, and in an exuberant voice said to the pooch, "YOU HAVE A NEW COUSIN. We met your new cousin!"

That's My Boy!

My little guy made a couple of sweet comments in the last couple of days, and I wanted to share them. Of course they might not have the same impact on you as they did on me...simply because he's not YOUR little guy.

1. Noam was trying to describe a snack his friend had brought to school.
"It has chocolate and -- you know cigars? yeah, this was like cigars. (he proceeded to demonstrate how you smoke an imaginary cigar) Yeah, they're called SMOKERS, and they're like cigars but smaller."

Me: "You mean cigarettes?"

Noam: "Yeah, i didn't know the name for them. I thought they're called smokers."

[I love that name; I think it's great that he knew the word cigars but not cigarettes!]

2. We have a fairly large kitchen with a freezer-fridge and a stand-up freezer that are side by side. Now one of my weaknesses is that I put everything on these unit doors with magnets. Usually there's no longer white space on the appliances and the papers that are posted began to fall down in spite of the magnets.
Yesterday, Noam posted a birthday party invitation on the freezer door. This morning he couldn't remember where he'd put it on the door and tried to spot it among the posted papers and invitations.

"There's the party invitation! I see it. And I saw a spider on the fridge this morning."

Me: "A spider?"

Noam: "Yeah, a common house one."

[to me a spider is a spider and I don't differentiate between them...unless it's a tarantula! the fact that Noam elaborated -- correctly and knowingly -- on the type of spider made me grin]

The Marvels of Monopoly

(I received this message in an email from...Jerusalem)


If you think Jerusalem should be one of the cities on the proposed new Monopoly board, read on …

The makers of Monopoly are inviting fans worldwide to vote in an on-line contest that will determine which 22 cities will be etched in the collective memory for a new global edition of the 75-year-old board game.

The contest, which got under way this week and will continue through February 28, will allow Monopoly fans the world over to cast their ballots for the 10 best cities out of a pre-selected list of 68, including Jerusalem. The 20 cities with the highest number of votes will make it onto the new global Monopoly board.



Please ONLY vote for Jerusalem - by voting for other cities as well you bump up their numbers and make it harder for Jerusalem to get into the top 20. Jerusalem is at #27 and could easily be put in the list but only if we send this out to everyone we know and note that you can vote EVERY DAY up to Feb. 28.



VOTE NOW - It's Easy!
http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/monopoly/