Pribek

Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the release of the Beatles “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. Sgt. Pepper is one of the things in this world that lives up to the hype. It really did change the game.

One of my favorite moments has always been, “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!” I have heard that John came up with the lyrics after seeing this circus poster.

It’s kind of hard to read here’s the text.

PABLO FANQUE’S CIRCUS ROYAL
TOWN-MEADOWS, ROCHDALE
Grandest Night of the Season!
AND POSITIVELY THE
LAST NIGHT BUT THREE!
BEING FOR THE
BENEFIT OF MR. KITE,
(LATE OF WELLS’S CIRCUS) AND
MR. J. HENDERSON,
THE CELEBRATED SOMERSET THROWER!
WIRE DANCER, VAULTER, RIDER, etc.
On TUESDAY Evening, February 14, 1843.

Mssrs. KITE and HENDERSON, in announcing the following Entertainments ensure the Public that this Night’s Production will be one of the most splendid ever produced in this Town, having been some days in preparation.
Mr. Kite will, for this night only,
introduce the
CELEBRATED
HORSE, ZANTHUS!
Well known to be one of the
best Broke Horses
IN THE WORLD!!!

Mr. HENDERSON will undertake the arduous Task of
THROWING TWENTY-ONE SOMERSETS,
ON THE SOLID GROUND.
Mr. KITE will appear, for the
first time this season,
On The Tight Rope,
When Two Gentlemen Amateurs
of this Town will
perform with him. Mr. HENDERSON will, for the first time
in Rochdale,
introduce his extraordinary
TRAMPOLINE LEAPS
AND
SOMERSETS!
Over Men & Horses, through Hoops,
over Garters and lastly through a
Hogshead of REAL FIRE!
In this branch of the profession Mr. H challenges THE WORLD!
For particulars see Bills of the day.

I think that’s just so cool. Actually, it was pretty cool even before John got ahold of it.

Now, there has been infinite speculation about the pig story. This is from a transcript of a Fox News interview with the hunter Jamison Stone.

JOHN GIBSON, HOST: A “Big Story” exclusive: Did Jamison Stone really kill one of the biggest pigs on the planet? A lot of people writing on the Internet say no. But the 11-year-old boy from Alabama is determined to prove that he did in fact kill this humongous hog earlier this month in Georgia. He says the picture is not a fake and I, for one, believe him.

So, John Gibson is on the record saying the pig is legit. He is the first media type that has not hedged his bets on this story. Does he know something we don’t or, is he following his reporter’s instinct? It’s not the most ringing endorsement because, Gibson has a habit of saying anything that pops into his brain, but it’s a start. I’m rooting for you Jamison.

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Here’s an article from BBC News about a Dutch T.V. Station that will be airing a game show in which a terminally ill woman will select one of three contestants to recieve her kidneys. Here is the logo for the show.

Kind of cute isn’t it? With the little kidney for the o.

I have heard a little bit about this on the news but I’ve really tried to ignore it because something about the premise makes me uncomfortable. Actually, the idea conjures up a lot of issues that are uncomfortable. There are many science fiction pieces that touch on this subject. You know, the “immoral game show of the future theme”. So, I tried, in my mind, to just laugh it off as just more shock value fare that we seem to have a never ending appetite for.

Then I saw that logo and it offended me enough that I could not continue to ignore it. The logo seems designed to offend with it’s cutesiness.

So, my first thought is; “What batch of greedy bastards is stooping so low as to make a buck off of this?” Well, the company that is behind it is Endemol (say that out loud phonetically “end ‘em all”), the creators of “Big Brother”. Now, there is no mention, in this article, about any money going to research or anything of the sort so I am assuming that the “Big Brother” people are trying to make some money and push the envelope. But wait, there’s this…

The former director of TV station BNN, Bart de Graaff, died from kidney failure aged 35 after spending years on a transplant waiting list.

“The chance for a kidney for the contestants is 33%,” said the station’s current chairman, Laurens Drillich. “This is much higher than that for people on a waiting list.”

“We think that is disastrous, so we are acting in a shocking way to bring attention to this problem.”

Maybe there is something more going on here than just a profit motive. Maybe these people are trying to call attention to a problem and increase debate.

From that perspective, I find some of the criticism of the show interesting…

“My first reaction, probably everyone’s reaction, is that this is as dangerously near as we’ve got to a TV programme playing God,” said Julia Raeside of the Guardian newspaper.
“People may live or die on the result of a game show. It’s a step too far.

Playing God hmmm, people may live or die on the result. The donor on the show is a 37-year-old woman who will make her choice based on the contestants’ history, profile and conversation with their family and friends. Viewers will also be able to text message their thoughts and advice to the donor.

“The scenario portrayed in this programme is ethically totally unacceptable,” said Professor John Feehally, who has just ended his term as president of the UK’s Renal Association.

“The show will not further understanding of transplants,” he added. “Instead it will cause confusion and anxiety.”

“The set up of the programme bears no relationship to the way decisions are made about transplants in the real world,” he said.

“Living donors can choose altruistically to give one of their kidneys - usually to a family member.

“If organs become available after someone dies, health professionals with access to detailed information about those waiting for a transplant make objective decisions about who should receive those particular kidneys.”

Now we are getting closer. If you want to donate your kidney, you have two ways of doing so. First, while you are alive, you can choose to give one to somebody. In this case, it would normally be someone you know. Second, you could leave it up to a committee of profesionals.

Mr. Feehally seems upset at the prospect of a third way of doing things and thus, taking the power of decision making out of the hands of the profesionals. One problem that comes up in discussions about organ donations is the possibility that decisions made by committees aren’t always “objective” as the profesor states but sometimes subjective. There have been widely publicized transplant cases (Mickey Mantle, David Crosby) where the objectivity of the health care profesionals has been questioned.

In the case of someone who is terminally ill that doesn’t have a family member that needs the kidney; why shouldn’t they be able to get their own detailed information and make their own objective decision? Is that “playing God” or, is it a form of empowerment?

Does the donor, in the case of this T.V. show, or her family profit in any way from this venture? I don’t know anything about Dutch law but, if they do profit, I find that unethical.

My guess is that a lot of people will watch this show. Endemol has a right to profit but that makes me leery on an ethical level as well. As a company, they might be well served to donate the money and increase their brand name.

I find the notion of the T.V. circus distasteful and uncomfortable. At the same time, I feel it does increase debate. Things that need debate aren’t usually comfortable.

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After I wrote the post “Decoration Day” last night, I started to think about that phrase. It’s one of those things that old timers would say; something they grew up with and continued to say even after the newer, Memorial Day became the standard. I seem to vaguely remember calendars that had Memorial Day (Decoration Day) on them. I guess that once you are in parentheses on the calendar you are soon to be an after-thought.

I like the sound of Decoration Day better. It sounds more human.

Anyway, I got to thinking and did a little research. It seems that Decoration Day loosely evolved after the Civil War. Whenever I read about the Civil War it always strikes me that, in these times, we have nothing to compare it to. More Americans died during the Civil War than any other war we’ve been involved in. 11.1 percent of the U.S. population fought in the Civil War. Of that 11.1 percent, 14.4 percent were killed. More soldiers were killed in combat during WW2 but the overall deaths were lower. There was actually a higher percentage of the population that fought in WW2 (12.2%) but, the percentage of those that fought and died was far lower (2.5%).

Here’s another way to look at it; 1 out every 5 males fought, 3 out of 10 that fought, died. That’s staggering, and it all happened on our soil.

So, in the wake of the Civil War, Decoration Day developed.

I found the sheet music for this hymn, published in 1867, “Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping” in the Duke University, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library. There was a dedication, “To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead”.

Kneel where our loves are sleeping,
Dear ones loved in days gone by,
Here we bow in holy reverence,
Our bosoms heave the heartfelt sigh,
They fell like brave men, true as steel,
And pour’d their blood like rain,
We feel we owe them all we have,
And can but kneel and weep again,

Here we find our noble dead,
Their spirits soar’d to him above,
Rest they now about his throne,
For God is mercy, God is love,
The let us pray that we may live,
As pure and good as they have been,
That dying we may ask of Him,
To ope the gate and let us in,

Kneel where our loves are sleeping,
They lost, but still were good and true,
Our fathers, brothers fell still fighting
Weep ‘tis all that we can do

“Kneel Where Our Loves Are Sleeping” by L. Nella Sweet and G.W.R. 1867

In 1868, General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of The Republic (an organization of former Union soldiers and sailors) declared in General Order #11 that:

The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

Note the line in the lyric, “They lost but, still were good and true” and also note that the General refers to the war as “the late rebellion”.

On May 30th, 1868 there was a Decoration Day celebration. General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery. So, maybe this was evidence of the beginning of some wounds starting to heal.

I think I’m going to continue to call it Decoration Day. It’s sunny with a light breeze here in the Ozarks and I hope your Decoration Day is just as fine.

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