Two deaths occurred over the last few days, with different levels of national publicity. Barbara Bush just died at the age of 92. She could have stayed in the hospital and they could have kept her alive for a few more days, but she decided to go home and spend her last hours with those she loved and in familiar surroundings.

She was the most loved of all of the Bush family, both liberals and conservatives. My sister, a huge liberal, loved her to death and felt that she would have made a better president than her husband, and I felt the same way... She was the strength and backbone of her family. Although George and Jeb got their conservatism and pig-headishness from their father, any sense of compassion came from their mother... George tried to combine the two traits by promoting a "compassionate conservatism," it never jelled into policy, thanks to the evil, soulless people he surrounded himself with. Barbara and George HW were married for over 72 years, the longest marriage of any presidential couple, and she was the only one besides Abigail Adams to have both been married to a president and been the mother of another... So, rest in peace, Babs, you lived a full life filled with love, and nobody can take that success away from you...




A more problematic death occurred last Saturday in a park, a successful gay rights lawyer, David Buckel, made a small, blue plastic tent, and set himself on fire. He left a note saying that people need to become more aware and to help more in taking care and healing the planet...

We haven't had someone setting themselves on fire in America in a long time. I remember, as a kid,
watching on the television, of a Buddhist monk dowsing himself and lighting himself on fire as a protest to the upcoming war in Vietnam. It didn't work, but it created a powerful image enough that I began a life-long interest in Buddhism and meditation.

Nobody really saw David burning to a crisp, his protest by ending his life didn't have the same powerful imagery as those monks in Vietnam did, and I doubt that he changed any lives with his sacrifice. He probably could have done more by continuing his activism.

But, we have reached a crisis point, our Earth is dying and humans are the major cause, like it or not. Unless more caring people take over powerful positions in our societies enough to solve the environmental problems that are killing us all, any future we have will become toast. Otherwise, our children may not be able to live full, happy lives like Barbara Bush...