"Death, Budgets, and Generational Justice" - by Connie Barlow, 2011

Connie Barlow builds on the 2011 call-to-action opinion piece by NYT columnist David Brooks ("Death and Budgets"), and the 2011 essay (in The New Republic) by Daniel Callahan and Sherwin B. Nuland, "The Quagmire: How American Medicine Is Destroying Itself."

Here, Barlow issues her own call-to-action in order to "foment a revolution" with her fellow boomers and with what remains of the older generations. By "just saying no" to costly medical diagnostics and interventions that merely prolong dwindling life in our elder years, and by pioneering vibrant, responsible, and celebratory ways of openly and actively dying, we can return to humanity's ancestral roots of "generational generosity" in our modes of living and dying. We each can take care to ensure that our legacy "passes forward" blessings to the generations who follow us -- not insupportable debt.

Barlow draws from her own work as a science writer and a long-term proponent (with husband, Michael Dowd) of the Epic of Evolution, also known as Big History. This evolutionary perspective is strengthened in this video by the deeply ecological perspective on death advocated by Stephen Jenkinson, whose work is the subject of the award-winning 2010 Canadian film, "Griefwalker." The video also highlights a 2011 cover story in Newsweek by Sharon Begley, titled "One Word Can Save Your Life: No!"
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/08/14/some-medical-tests-procedure...

TEXT version of this video at:
http://evolutionarytimes.org/index.php?id=2221613169845810317

AUDIO version of this video at:
http://evolutionaryevangelists.libsyn.com/34-death-budgets-and-generational-j...

AUDIO prelude to this message posted 6/24/10 by Barlow: "Death and Intergenerational Generosity"
http://evolutionaryevangelists.libsyn.com/30_death_and_intergenerational_gene...

Evolutionary DEATH VIDEO programs on Youtube for TEENS and ADULTS by Connie Barlow:

* "Stardust and Death" - (parts 1 - 4)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Fy26zv6hU&feature=channel_video_title

* "Time and Death - The Secrets of Evolution" - with Sagan, Cuvier, Darwin, Eiseley, and Barlow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnTAzhLIEIg&feature=channel_video_title

* "Why Is There Death?" finale of Connie Barlow's "Death Through Deep Time Eyes" program 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkm7BIQ-_t0&feature=relmfu

TEXT and AUDIO programs on a sacred, evolutionary, and fully naturalistic understanding of death are accessible online via the following pages on Connie's "The Great Story" website:

* "Death Through Deep-Time Eyes"
http://thegreatstory.org/death-programs.html

* "Thank God for DEATH: Could Anything Be More Sacred? More Necessary? More Real?" - by Michael Dowd
http://evolutionarychristianity.com/blog/general/thank-god-for-death-could-an...

Evolutionary RESOURCES FOR CHILDREN on death:

* "STARTULL: The Story of an Average Yellow Star" - by Connie Barlow
http://thegreatstory.org/stardust-parable.html

* "Tree Talks About Death" - by Connie Barlow
http://thegreatstory.org/tree-talks-about-death.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Death and Budgets
• death with dignity
• Connie Barlow
• evolution
• David Brooks
• Daniel Callahan
• Sherwin B. Nuland
• Sharon Begley
• Stephen Jenkinson
• Griefwalker
• Michael Dowd
• hospice
• elderly
• dementia
• budget crisis
• Medicare
• sacred
• boomers
• case for killing granny
• end of life care
• health care crisis
• Thomas Berry
• legacy
• right to die
• final gifts

[gberreman]

wonderful loving gracious words and  wisdom

[mrjackdog]

Let's get rid of all the fear triggers out there political, social, religious. These are

truly brave and forward thinking people.