Month: April 2019

Guest Contributor – War Pig – Discussion on Death and Dying

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Now scientists say you do know when you have died and your brain works for a short time after your heart stops beating. Most who have survived a death experience say they were not at all afraid. Perhaps this is a mercy given to us to ease the transition. That’s why I believe in hospice and palliative care. Humans don’t always die peacefully so I’m all for them dying on their own terms when they can.

My good friend’s brother had brain cancer. Very painful. But just before he died he entered a state of grace where the pain was gone and he could thank his sister for taking care of him in his final weeks at home instead of dying alone in a hospital bed.

My dear wife’s mother said the day that she died that her husband of many years was at the foot of the bed, beckoning her to go with him. He had been dead for four years by then.

My own mother said my father, who had been gone for 16 years, appeared before her in her room at the nursing home a week before she died. She said he was dressed in the clothes he wore as a plant supervisor at Rocketdyne during the moonshot program. That was when he was happiest. He had important work and he was in charge. She was also seeing cars from the 50s and 60s driving through her room that week before she passed. She wasn’t at all afraid. When she passed on, she was in a hospital room but in my daughter’s hospital with me, my brother, his family, my daughters and my grandson with her. She finally told the nurses to remove the PAP breathing machine. They told her if they did, she would die. She said that was already decided and it the mask was uncomfortable. So she passed on her own terms.

My wife passed when she took a nap with a headache. Died peacefully from an undiagnosed aneurysm.

I hope I am given the grace to go so peacefully as they.

The Twilight Zone – Complete Series Review – Season 3 Episode 16 – Nothing in the Dark

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A very old woman lives alone in a condemned building in a run-down area of a city.  And she is afraid of every one she meets so she won’t open her door to anyone.

Outside her apartment she sees a policeman in the alley so she hides in her room.  Shots are fired and a car speeds away.  She hears the voice of a man crying for help.  She tells him to go away and leave her alone.  He tells her that he’s been shot and his name is Officer Harold Beldon and he needs a doctor right away.

The old woman is in a panic.  She is frightened to death of the man but she is moved to help an injured person.  She overcomes her fear and goes to him.  When she touches his shoulder, she is amazed.  She says aloud, “how am I still alive?”  The old lady helps the Officer into her apartment and tries to make him comfortable on the bed and makes him some tea.  Now that she is safe back in her room, she tells the Officer about herself.  She says that one time on a bus she saw a man come up to a very old woman and in the course of picking up something she dropped, he touched her hand and a little while later she died.  At that point she concluded that the man was actually Death there to take the old woman away.  The old woman tells the Officer that a few more time she saw Death take away old people.  Now she avoids everyone because Death can take any form.  But she is miserable.  She loves the sunlight but now lives always in darkness.

Later on, a knock comes at the door and she refuses to open it.  The man at the door says he is a contractor responsible for demolishing the condemned buildings that include the one the old lady lived in.  When she refused to open the door, he brakes it down.  When he enters the room the old lady collapses to the floor.  When she comes to, she is once again amazed that Death has not gotten her.  The contractor tries to comfort her and explains that his job is not evil.  He’s clearing the ground so new homes can be built to replace the worn-out buildings.  The old lady asks Officer Beldon to help her explain to the contractor that she needs to stay inside but the contractor is confused by her words and leaves warning her she must go.

When she thinks about what happened she realizes that the contractor couldn’t see the Officer.  Beldon tells her to look in the mirror and when she does, she can’t see him in the mirror.  Now she knows that he is indeed Death.  In confusion she asks him why he did not kill her when she let him in.  He explains to her that he is not there to hurt or frighten her.  He is only there to guide her to the next phase of her existence.  He implores her lovingly to take his hand and after initial fear she does.  When nothing seems to happen, she is relieved and she asks him when she will die and he asks her to look at the bed.  There she sees her own body in repose.  And now Death says to her, “What you feared would come like an explosion is like a whisper. What you thought was the end is the beginning.”  Death leads the old lady out of the darkness into the sunlight.

Gladys Cooper as the old lady and Robert Redford as Death are very good.  The drama is sentimental and emotionally charged but effective.  I enjoyed it.  B+

The Twilight Zone – Complete Series Review – Season 3 Episode 15 – A Quality of Mercy

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In the last days of the WW II a platoon of exhausted American GIs is performing surveillance on a mortar team trying to destroy an enemy position inside a cave in the Philippines.  Sgt. Causarano and his men are discussing the weakness of the Japanese force in the cave.  They approximate it to be twenty men most of whom are injured and therefore unlikely to mount any offensive operations against the Americans.  In addition, because of their good defensive position extracting them will definitely require American casualties.  They decide the best strategy is to bypass this target and move onto a more dangerous force that is less difficult to assault.

At this point a new officer arrives to take command of the patrol.  Lt. Katell informs Causarano that he is going to run things by the book and the first order of business is a frontal attack on the cave.  The Sgt. respectfully advises the Lt. that at this late stage of the war a frontal attack on a target that isn’t a threat is overzealous and a waste of American lives.  Katell states that in a war killing the enemy continues from the beginning of the war right until the very end.

The men reluctantly prepare for the assault but just as he is preparing to call the charge Katell drops his binoculars and as he is looking down at them a confusing change occurs.  Instead of being night it is broad daylight and instead of Causarano, the sergeant picking up the binoculars is in a Japanese uniform and is addressing Katell as Lt. Yamuri.   Panicking, Katell (who looks and is dressed as a Japanese officer) bolts away from the Japanese encampment and runs toward a cave.  But as he approaches it an American soldier inside the cave sprays machine gun fire toward him and is answered by a Japanese machine gunner firing back at the cave.

In the next scene Katell/Yamuri is trying to understand what is happening but he is very confused.  He learns from the Sgt. that the year is 1942 and the scene is near the battle of Corregidor in the Philippines.  At that point a senior Japanese officer appears and admonishes Yamuri for not finishing off the American force in the cave.  He tells Yamuri that it is a small force of twenty men, most wounded and would be easily overwhelmed by a frontal assault.  Now it is Yamuri (Katell) trying to convince an officer that bypassing the cave would be prudent.  But the officer accuses him of cowardice or battle fatigue.

As they prepare to storm the cave, the scene shifts back to the American camp in 1945.  But before Katell can get his bearings a messenger announces the dropping of the Hiroshima bomb and orders to suspend hostilities.  After his disorienting experiences Katell seems greatly relieved not to have to pursue the attack he earlier demanded.

As we’ve noted earlier, Rod Serling served in an infantry outfit in the Philippines during WW II.  His disdain for needless loss of human life probably matched the feelings of many men who had served in the war.  The acting in this episode is very good.  I especially enjoyed the characterization of Sgt. Causarano.  His war weary but professional attitude was very appealing.  Dean Stockwell as the Lt. was also good.  Of interest is a cameo as one of the soldiers by Leonard Nimoy in his pre-Spock era.  B+