Rubens’ Massacre of the Holy Innocents from NationMaster.com

Death takes no holidays. We all know this but it would be too painful to acknowledge it during this season of supposed joy. Sometimes we are reminded of this undeniable truth on a grand scope, as happened during the Asian tsunami of 2004, which claimed an estimated 230,000 lives, and displaced millions. Its 4th anniversary was recollected on December 26 in homes and beaches from Indonesia to India. It is believed to be the deadliest tsunami in recorded history.

More often death arrives on a more modest scale, although the tragedy is not in any way diminished by the numbers involved. Whether it be 1 or 100,000, the pain and anguish can be overwhelming for those forced to confront it. This is even more heart-rending in the case of children dying. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a moral and religous dilemma which I pray no one would ever face, but which will happen to a fair number of us in the light of advances in life-sustaining technology.

When does death occur ? More to the point, when is it morally proper to pull the plug ?

Motl Brody of Brooklyn, N.Y., was pronounced dead last November 4 after a half-year fight against a brain tumor, and doctors at Children’s National Medical Center in Wahington D.C. say the seventh-grader’s brain had ceased functioning entirely. He was brain dead. His orthodox Jewish parents went to court to maintain the boy on life-support, essentially to compel the hospital to keep him alive indefinitely through mechanical means by keeping his heart and lungs functioning. Under some interpretations of Jewish religious law, including the one accepted by the family’s Hasidic sect, death occurs only when the heart and lungs stop functioning. The hospital argued that its “scarce resources” were being used “for the preservation of a deceased body.” Read the rest of this entry »

Photo from travelchannel.com

Anthony Bourdain of “No Reservations” fame was in Manila to film his show and I wasn’t even aware of it until weeks after he left. My wife knew, but didn’t say a word, not knowing or caring who Mr. Bourdain was.

As always, I found out first from the blogs, notably marketmanila.com and food-stylingmanila.com. I was on the verge of tears and dying of envy of everyone who had a chance to interact with the Great Bourdain. Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of the show and when I got a copy of “No Reservations” the book, around this time last year, and saw that he had never been to the Philippines, I knew that it was only a matter of time before he landed on our fair shores and sampled our unique cuisine.

Well it happened, and he and his crew went in and out the country like ninjas, stealthily but effectively. They had no choice, I suppose, as the resulting media frenzy would have kept him from sampling the authentic grub which was their real objective. And they did their homework, zeroing in on the authoritative people who could give them a broad sampling of honest Filipino cooking at its best during their short stay. Guys like Market Man, Claude Tayag and Gene Gonzales. Read the rest of this entry »

Today is All Saints’ Day, as the Catholic Church never tires of reminding us, and is meant to honor all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Pope Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful’s celebration of saints’ feasts during the year. Like a make-up day for saints (now estimated to number between 3,000 to 10,000, no one knows for sure) who, for one reason or another, were not given their due during the year. That’s why it’s All Saints Day.

Tomorrow, November 2 is All Souls Day, the commemoration of all the faithful departed, and if this be a Sunday or a solemnity, like this year, it is moved to November 3. This is the day set aside for prayers and offering masses for all our loved ones who have gone before us.

No matter. For the majority of us, these are mere formalities which are conveniently ignored for the traditional commemoration cum family reunions at the gravesites of our dead relatives and friends today. It makes sense to visit the cemetery right after Halloween, making it a de facto two-day celebration. And a celebration it is, complete with food, flowers and good company, including, we’d like to believe, the otherworldly presence of our dearly departed. This is their day, after all. Read the rest of this entry »

Gana grieves for her baby. Photo from telegraph.co.uk

It appears that animals, specially primates, have an awareness of their mortality and that of their ilk, and grieve in ways that are strikingly human-like. I’m aware of the hazards and fallacies of anthropomorphizing, but a report in the New York Times shows that even rodents and insects have elaborate rituals when dealing with the dead. Read the rest of this entry »