Wednesday, November 22, 2006

John & João

On This Date In History - ...............................President John F. Kennedy Was Assassinated (1963)
The assassination of John F. Kennedy while he was riding in a presidential motorcade in Dallas was a seminal event in American history. Although two official investigations have concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was the culprit, the assassination is still the subject of widespread speculation and has spawned a number of conspiracy theories.

A decidedly traumatic and pivotal event in anyone's life is always the passing of a dear one, whether a father, a mother, a child or a lover... A leader or commander-in-chief as well...
Today is also, for me personally, a date synonymous with much chagrin as it is, day for day, exactly eight months ago that I witnessed my father's departure from this life. It happened right before me too - and he wound up, for the following six days, here:

And then, for the six days and five nights that followed, I was battling the establishment to gain the right to keep my father alive on the respirator. All I wanted was to buy some time - to allow relatives who were located farther away to have at least a chance to see Dad alive one last time - his heart beating still...
They objected every day - they wanted to force my hand and my mother's into taking a decision asap - and the only decision was to unplug him and let him go... This from the same establishment that kept an older patient, female and wealthy, hooked to a respirator for MONTHS - when her situation was just as dire as my father's was...
To boot, the picture above was found in a PDF document issued by the same hospital on the web - it shows a patient whose resemblance to my father is quite uncanny.
Unauthorized pictures of the patients that you are eager to discard, on top of everything, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur...? Tut-tut...
I should sue.
I probably will.

Monday, November 13, 2006

eddie guerrero - one year gone

I anticipated posting here something about this untimely demise "one year later" - and I am making good on that promise to myself with the video I had selected then for this occasion (here's hoping that the video has not been disabled, deleted or taken off by You Tube administration, old or new, for not complying with their rules and terms of use... *sic*) However, I do so with the most bitter taste in my mouth... It has nothing to do with I had for lunch - whether it was mexican food or not (I love fajitas, tacos and tortillas, by the way) It has little to do with the fact that Eddie's widow is currently portraying some sort of mean vixen role on WWE SMACKDOWN ON THE CW... A sort of insurrection / resurrection of the WCW, but only because of the presence of the majority of former WCW personnel (stars and referees both) there (only Ric Flair himself is missing - and he's on RAW, so he could come over, since he did appear a couple of times on the awful ECW show...) What makes me swallow with difficulty right now is the realization that dawned upon me just now... Never in a million years would I have thought, a year ago today, when I learned of Eddie's passing, that today, remembering him a year later, it would also be close to eight months that my own dear Dad would be gone as well... No one can predict these things... I stand as surprised by the turn of events as Chavo Guerrero Jr was, when he parted with his uncle Eddie on the weekend only to find him dead the next morning... And now, the WWE is trying to use real life and real tragedy to make money... With Eddie's nephew and widow fully participating... Knowing Eddie's showmanship, he wouldn't mind... He must be enjoying the show, from up there... Maybe my Dad is watching with him too... Maybe...