I'll add my concurrence. One of my favorite bloggers, Patrick Smith of "Ask the Pilot," wrote a good article last year trying to make the same point with regard specifically to air terrorism: http://www.askthepilot.com/twa-847/
try to envision, for a moment, the flight 847 saga happening today. Imagine, if you possibly can, how berserk the media would be. Mind you, flight 847 was the third hijacking to occur in the region that week in 1985!
There's something a bit... insensitive about making this sort of point while people are still grieving*, but it is important that it be made.
*not a criticism, just an acknowledgement of the difficulty of the argument
Dave, that's exactly why I had trepidation about making the point here in this thread, but I think it is important.
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"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
ETA: As an aside, our profile pictures go very well together.
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"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
This was posted on Facebook today about JewelSong. As she created this thread, I thought it a good place to share this news about her and ask for prayers/thoughts/concern...
"Hi Everyone- This is Hannah, Julie's daughter, posting on her behalf. She flew in last night to visit me in Florida. This morning she had some kind of episode and did not remember where she was or how she got to my house. She is in the hospital now. They have thankfully ruled out a stroke and are keeping her overnight for observation. Her short term memory is slowly coming back. She is doing okay and will hopefully be discharged tomorrow, but we are uncertain of any future travel plans. We will keep you posted."
Oh, my! Thanks for letting us know, Nin. She will be in my thoughts.
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"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Yes, so frightening! More prayers for JewelSong coming from me (getting all tangled up with Frelga's prayers and flying together into the east, I guess).
Jewel is such an amazingly energetic and vibrant person that it's a shock to have news like this.
“Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart. She was in a class by herself. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.” E. B. White, who must have had vison in mind. There's a reason why we kept putting the extra i in her name in our minds!
Nin - thank you so much for posting that up. Here in Ireland some of us on the Irish Moot read the FB message last night and have been holding Jewel in our thoughts and prayers. One of our company looked up the symptoms and they seemed to point to Transient Global Amnesia - which is a real thing, very rare, very scary but usually a one-off. Hannah has since confirmed that that's the diagnosis. We continue to hold our bright Jewel in our thoughts and prayers. I'm flying back to England today, and was due to meet up with Jewel next weekend as she came through London - obviously none of us know what will be the next best course of action, so we will wait to hear.
"Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could ... " Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien Avatar by goldlighticons on Live Journal
Thanks for that reassuring post, Di—I will certainly be holding Jewel in my prayers and hoping for more reassurance for all of us. Thanks very much, Nin, for letting us know.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Jewel herself posted a couple of hours ago on Facebook:
Hi, everybody. Julie here. I am still compos mentis! Hoping to get out of here this afternoon and spend the week recuperating at my daughter's house. Obviously, job interviews and trip to London Job Fair have been scrapped, but those are small things. Very grateful for all your kind words, thoughts and prayers!
What a relief to hear that she's better and that she'll be able to rest in her daughter's care while she recovers completely.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers! I am slowly returning to (what passes for) normal, although I still feel a bit fuzzy. Thank God this happened when it did and not, say, in transit at the Dubai airport!
Diagnosis is indeed "Transient Global Amnesia" which seems to mean "Hey, you forgot a bunch of stuff for NO REASON and we have no idea why, but no worries because it probably won't happen again! Ta!"
Hannah said she went between being really worried and wanting to laugh because I reminded her so much of Dory from "Finding Nemo."
Just keep swimmin'...
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"Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" - Auntie Mame
What a scary thing to go through! I'm glad it looks like a temporary blip.
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"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Could you please spare some thoughts / prayers for my friend? Her husband is ill, and they are now in that space of "it may be nothing or it may be very bad." They are good people and I hope the Universe rolls "It's nothing" for them.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
ray: