Chicken, Anyone?

Last week at work I had the rare opportunity to meet a young patient’s father who is an employee of North State Rendering. This facility melts down all kinds of dead animals. When I inquired about the final destination of the disposal of the rendered items, the gentleman informed me most of it goes into chicken feed!!! Horrified, I asked him if his family ate chicken? He nonchalantly affirmed that they did!! Keep this nutritional nugget in mind the next time you’re tempted to stop for a visit at Colonel Sanders.

My Postscript to 9/11

May we learn to live each day as though it could be our last

2006 Insights from 9/11

Today, Monday, September 11th, 2006, our country, once again, memorialized one of the darkest days in America's history.

Today I was reminded, once again, that in living....beginning with birth....each of us will experience our own individual and personal dark days and cross the path of pain....some more than others.

Today I listened anew to the many opposing stories....stories of those who were gruesomely lost....and those who were miraculously spared.

Today I was reminded, once again, that it is only by the grace of God that any of us survive the circumstances and events, often unseen, in our everyday lives....allowing us more time to live out our purpose.

Today I was reminded, once again, that God, in His mercy, doesn't reveal to us glimpses of our future....those difficult, painful journeys ahead. It must be enough for us to know with certainty that our times are in His hands....That He will be with us in our future, as He is in our present.

Today, I was reminded, once again, to ask God for sensitivity and compassion toward all humanity....that there, but for the grace of God, go I.

In Remembrance of September 11, 2001

This is my invitation to you to join me on Monday, September 11th, in my 5th annual "911 Memorial Party" in my living room at home. It is a date I have been annually requesting off from work to prayerfully remember, contemplate and honor the lives of those that were lost, along with their families, friends, and co-workers five years ago. It is a day to reflect upon the changes in our freedoms we have so long taken for granted in this country. And this year, a day to acknowledge conclusive results of the Mount Sinai Medical Center's study of 16,000 of the 40,000 ground zero rescue and clean-up workers with the "World Trade Center cough." Construction workers, police, firefighters, and other volunteers who worked at the site, in the city morgue, or at a landfill where more than one million tons of trade center debris were hauled. Between September 11th to 13th, 2001, nearly 70 percent ot these workers toiled in the dust and fumes of asbestos, pulverized concrete, mercury, and other toxins that will leave them chronically sick for the rest of their lives.

So, join me this Monday, September 11th. This the only day of the year I take the liberty to remain guiltlessly, un-interruptedly glued to the "tube," to solemnly review and weigh the events, and their subsequent fall-out, from that one day of enormous history occurring during our lifetime....Tuesday, September 11th, 2001.