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I read a news story over the holidays, the story talked about a man who had died in October at the age of 88. Friends and family members received holiday cards from him this year. Each of the cards had the return address of “Heaven” and inside, in the man’s handwriting they said,

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Before I talk about the contest I wanted talk about a very special and kind woman. Her name is Josie Varga. Josie is a motivational speaker and the author of the book, “Footprints in the Sand: A Disabled Woman’s Inspiring Journey to Happiness”. Josie has generously donated a signed copy of her book to us at Respectance to give to a community member. Josie is also working on a new book entitled “Visits from Heaven” inspired by a personal experience, she is looking to get contributions from our community members for her book. We were thrilled to help Josie and showed her a group here at Respectance that already exists.

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An interesting article in the Irish Times today: Satellite broadcaster dying to take reality TV to next level. A German television promoter is bringing Etos TV to air in Europe via satellite early next year. With an offering of two-minute obituaries, documentaries about cemeteries and programs about retirement homes and safety devices for the elderly, its developer, Wolf Tilmann Schneider, says his goal is to get Germans talking about death.

We had some interesting discussions about it this morning. In a world of aging populations, retreating taboos and reality TV, this actually makes a lot of sense. I think the business rationale is pretty obvious but I also think the founder has hit on something more profound: there are hundreds of thousands of people dying every year in Germany (millions worldwide) and all anyone gets for a lifetime of struggle and achievement is a tiny few lines in the obit section of the local newspaper.
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On November 30th 2007, we lost a great American Icon. Robert Craig “Evel” Knievel, Jr. (Evel Knievel), American daredevil motorcyclist passed away after his struggle with diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Evel Knievel is well known for his many successful motorcycle jumps and stunts and even for his unsuccessful jumps. He has been awarded the Guinness world record for most sustained injuries (a record that is still held to this day). Regardless of the multiple injuries he has sustained due to his crashes during his stunts he managed to get up and shrug off the pain and continue on with his heart racing career.
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