| Inevitability of death leads to freer living
I thought I should write about death.
The trouble is, I'm not entirely sure what to say about it. I have some experience with the subject matter, but I have learned that if experience does indeed bring wisdom, it is sneaky about it. Wisdom does not ring the doorbell. It just slides in quietly, pours itself a cold drink and settles in on the couch.
But once it is there, it is in for the long hall.
The kind of wisdom I am talking about is that which allows us to cope with loss. For myself, wisdom has never been a talkative guest, just a reassuring presence. It has helped me cope with death, which has been on my mind a lot this semester.
In February 2007, my friend Marilyn died. She was 47 years old and she died in hospice of peritoneal mesothelioma, which is the cancer caused by asbestos.
LegalView Announces the Arrival of a Breakthrough Scientific Study Allowing Insight Into the Development and ...
LegalView utilized its mesothelioma blog to report a new mouse model for mesothelioma that reproduces the human disease and provides scientists insights into the way the cancer develops and progresses. The mouse model is for human malignant mesothelioma and will likely lead to breakthroughs in treatments for mesothelioma cancer patients over time. .
Banton remembered at workers service
Asbestos campaigner Bernie Banton was remembered by his wife and brother in a moving service paying tribute to people who have died at work. Mr Banton died last November at the age of 61 from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma after years of fighting for the rights of fellow sufferers. .
Unions call for inquiry into cancer
More than 1.5 million Australian workers may be exposed to cancer-causing substances while at work without even knowing it, peak union body, the ACTU, has claimed. Speaking on International Workers Memorial Day, when unions remember workers who have lost their lives at work, ACTU president Sharan Burrow launched a three-year campaign to eliminate cancer-causing substances from the workplace. She said figures showed that more than 1.5 million Australian workers every year were being exposed to potentially cancer-creating products. "That isn't related to any one occupation," Ms Burrow said. "There are some occupations clearly that are more likely to come in contact with products that can create cancer, but right across the board ... wherever people are liable to be working with products that we don't know enough about." Ms Burrow called for a government-led national inquiry and more research into cancer-causing substances in workplaces.
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