I just thought this story was so very touching. I heard other newscaster’s tell what they heard about President Reagan’s last moments, one saying he hadn’t opened his eyes for months and immediately after he did, he breathed his last breath.
For me, being a believer in God and knowing Mr. Reagan was also a believer, I feel as if God spoke to him telling him it was “time” and he allowed him as well as his wife to take in that moment together. One of the most beautiful stories I’ve heard in a long time.
And the glurge begins. Next we’ll be reading stories of Reagan appearing on tortillas and in splashes of mud on the sides of buildings or the gnarls of a tree trunk.
You know, my sister, (who is a nurse), says that dying patients sometimes seem to get “better” right before they die. This story (if it is true) sounds very much like that.
The ‘looking better’ effect happened to my grandad immediately after he died - all the conecntration and frustration of Alzhimers vanished, and he looked like he always looked. I can certainly see how people who want to find a supernatural element can identify that as a part of it.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really care if Patti Davis wants to believe RR had a moment of clarity before he died. The idea that a decade of deterioration suddenly went away for a moment before he died is, to be charitable, medically unlikely, but if it brings her comfort then I’m not going to say she shouldn’t have it.
What I object to pre-emptively is the idea that this is going to turn into some “proof that God loves his children” bullshit. OK, let’s assume God exists and that as a parting gift to the family, he gave RR a moment of clarity immediately before his death. For those who believe in God and especially for those who believe in God and who have lost a family member to a long deterioration, do you feel like a moment of clarity would be a fair trade for a decade of suffering for both the patient and the family members? Given a choice between the two, I’ll take the “no ten years of suffering” over “moment of clarity on deathbed” either as the patient or the family member. Kind of mean for God to make RR and Nancy and the kids and others who loved and cared for them go through a decade of hell for a moment of clarity.
Yes, in fact my Father passed away last December after a Stroke in which the Doctor’s gave him no chance of being able to communicate or get out of bed ever again. My Family had to make a decision to take him off life support and let him go. The few moments we had together while I watched him starve to death meant the world to me and I will never forget them. He suffered. Everyone suffers in one way or another but to those who believe in God and eternal life a “moment of clarity on a loved ones deathbed” is very, very important and meaningful.
This is not a thread for debating the existence of God. I’m sure there are quite enough of them in Great Debates if that’s what you feel led to do.
when I heard about it, anyway… i danced a jig. You want a moment of clarity? It was when he realized he was leaving this sweet life and heading to hell.
I first heard about it from CNN.com when I check the internet news around the middle of the day. My thought process “Hmm…Ronald Reagan died. Oooo, J.Lo got married again.”
I’d be shocked if Reagan’s brain was able to process such complex things as ‘woman’ or ‘face’ in the moments before he died.
I went out to the kitchen during the whole caisson and riderless-horse-with-backward-boots thing. When I got back, some speaker was discussing how Reagan had died with dignity.
I suppose that this is true if you consider spending the last few years of your life moaning, grunting, drooling, and with no control over your bowels or bladder to be dignified.
I did agree with various commentators who said his death was also something of a relief for his family. Ronald Reagan has been dead for years. Now his family can finally bury him.
I’m with you here. Both of my paternal grandparents died while in the midst of Alzheimers, neither knew who they were or where they were. It was…sadly, a relief when they died.
They hadn’t had clarity in 5 years, no less the last seconds of life. Knowing that the disease is in my family I shudder when I think about how I may go.
Just IMHO, Otto (and you know I like you) you’re way out of line on this one. That smug “There is no debate” line was every bit as uncalled for as the Jehovah’s Witness who showed up on my doorstep yesterday.
A lot of people (not me, but a lot of people) are upset over Reagan’s death. You may be pissed off that he’s being canonized because he’s dead. It doesn’t mean you should shit all over something that may be bringing somebody else comfort.
I’d like to ask both Otto and if6was9 to show a little decorum, please. There’s no shortage of pro- and anti-Reagan threads on this board. I’m sure you’ll find one to your liking. But this is not it.
Odd, especially when you claim to defend those who are getting emotional about this man’s death.
And let’s take a look at this, shall we?
Call me crazy, I don’t really see this as “shit[ting] all over something that may be bringing somebody else comfort.”
Sure, the “There is no god, period” thing may have been a bit much. But, IMO, leaping for joy and singing the praises of a man’s death, especially this particular man in this particular thread, is far worse than denying the existence of god.
Here I thought I was showing a little decorum. Just not, you know, much.
Seriously, apologies to anyone who might’ve taken offense to my “atheist witnessing” as it was so eloquently put. Not my intention in posting. Truly I was only objecting to the glurge factor in the OP.
