Best holiday party in years…
Our cassoulet evening was a roaring success. Twenty people, two magnums of a particularly exquisite Châteauneuf-du-Pape with the main course and a dessert of bread pudding which was light and airy.
We had five physicians at the table, representing oncology, ob/gyn, emergency medicine/trauma, pediatrics and general surgery. The CT school shooting was one of the many topics discussed at table, and we mentioned how sick we were of hearing it called a "national tragedy". Children die all over the world every day. They die during birth, from congenital defects, cancer, malnutrition, acts of violence, auto accidents, choking, drowning, military action, infections and a host of other causes. 11 million children under the age of five die from a preventable disease every year. The random act of a lunatic who wants to take a gun, or build a bomb, or pull a knife is almost impossible to prevent. Yet the media focus is on the unpreventable death of 20 while ignoring the preventable deaths of 11 million? Only in America. And all the gun ownership debate will be a nice distraction from pesky minor issues like the economy, taxes, healthcare, jobs, etc.
We all made an agreement with friends this year that any holiday gifts will be of the variety to eat or drink. The simple reason is we all have too much stuff, and don’t need more clutter in homes where closets are already full to bursting. I’ve sent a few of our friends who like to cook and appreciate good olive oil a unique gift from Tre Olive. We adopt an olive tree for the year, and they get 3 litres of olive oil, plus an adoption certificate and a photo of their tagged tree. Some people have been known to visit their tree while in Italy. The main attraction, of course, is the amazing quality of the oil.
that certainly puts it into perspective, doesn’t it? 11 million to 22. take care,
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Very true. You should make your voice heard! Perspective is a very good thing! Glad you had such a roring evening! Nice company is just the greatest.
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ryn: Yeah, I guess they never heard of smallpox.
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Adopting an olive tree is a neat idea!
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what a grand idea about the adopting of an olive tree. *smiles*
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RYN: The point of my entry is more that its not a random act. There is a build-up and an illness behind it. These shooters didn’t trip over a gun and by coincidence be standing in a crowd of people and kill them. That’s random. But having a mental disorder that isn’t addressed, that isn’t thought to be important enough by the government or health care providers, that results in horrifying events isn’t random. Its predictable. And in that sense you’re right. Why aren’t we more upset over something we can prevent? Why aren’t we moving to fix the real problem? ~rory
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I do love how you apply Occam’s Razor to things. Thank you.
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you’re such a good source for fun new treats – checking out the olive oil trees right now!
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ryn- I did hear about that, but there have been WAY more shootings with automatic weapons since 1927 than death by explosions. People will manage to murder other people no matter what, but it would really help to at least lessen the ability to mow down a bunch of kids. Or a bunch of anyone else. You’re also totally right that 20 kids is nothing compared to the numbers who die every day all over the world of totally preventable things. And I really don’t think anything will ever change regarding guns anyhow. There will be indignation for awhile and then we’ll all move on to the next new tragedy. Consumable gifts is a great idea. My best friend and husband and I at one time agreed we’d just go out to celebrate Christmas and birthdays… but she’s very sentimental and can’t stand to NOT buy stuff!
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What a wonderful gift! I love that idea.
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