The Holidays Hanakkah & Christmas

Documentaries on TV (Discovery Channel - Health) about childbirth have gripped my pregnant wife all morning. The last one was a pip!: an adorable boy, age 12, brother of two younger boys, has been diagnosed with a blood disorder which requires for remedy a bone marrow transplant. (Please don't hold me responsible for medical accuracy here, my Entry is about the spirit, not the body.)

To solve this malady the parents have cheerfully and fearfully opted to immediately have another baby and use some of that baby's blood, should it perfectly match, by injecting it into that baby's much older brother. We didn't have to wait nine months, thanks to film editing, ha ha.  But, the parents did have to wait, and wait, and wait. Their bravery in the face of the daily decline of their immensely lovable and appreciative twelve year old who has gotten thinner, and has stopped growing, was gripping.

The transplant worked. The oldest and the youngest in closeup kissing and hugging sure were moving even though the poor infant didn't, couldn't yet hug or kiss back.

I noticed that the parents wore commonplace religious icons, and if I'd been more observant I'd have seen more of the same in their Southern USA home.  I noticed how adult and non-gooey emotional both parents behaved on-camera during their long ordeal.  I noticed they were equals. The producers couldn't possibly have 'cast' better, more believable 'actors.' Sometimes real people on camera cannot behave naturally, not even in a crisis, so crippled do they become from stage fright.  I wonder if attending religious ceremonies, regardless of denominations, over a lifetime imparts an ease while being observed? In any case, both parents were deeply committed to the sacrifices they undertook to save their twelve year old son, and their demeanor on-camera was most moving and inspiring.  The Producer, CBS, probably paid some of their expenses, but nevertheless we are enormously grateful to those 'actors' for allowing us to watch their ordeal. 

After the TV show I read someone's message on an AOL message board declaring that all religion is myth.

I think that person needs a 'bone marrow transplant.' Would that shore up a sagging spirit?  Some of us may need the arduousness of parenting so as to fully enjoy and appreciate the thills of being alive on this beautiful planet.

God Bless. 

Barry