PLUNGED TO HIS DEATH TO GET OUT OF CHRISTMAS SHOPPING?

This story was all over Facebook yesterday and my cousin, Dennis, even emailed me this story for my blog. It is just so insane! I mean, speaking as a guy who hates shopping, I don't think I would ever stoop to this level just to get my girlfriend to stop shopping, thought it seems like a good idea sometimes. 

Anyway, for those who haven't seen this story yet; an aggravated man, in China of all places, jumped from an upper-level mall balcony to his death because his girlfriend refused to stop shopping. 38-year-old, Tao Hsiao was at the Golden Eagle International Shopping Center in Xuzhou, China, for five hours on December 7 when his lady friend insisted that they check out another shoe store. According to an eyewitness, he told her, "You already have enough shoes, more shoes than she could wear in a lifetime and it was pointless buying any more." The witness said that she retorted by shouting back at him accusing him of being a 'skinflint' and for spoiling Christmas, which created more heat to the argument. 

Tao apparently could not handle anymore name-calling or shopping. Security footage shows Tao, in an apparent burst of anger, throwing the shopping bags to the ground before jumping over the seventh floor railing to his death. He reportedly crashed into holiday decorations on the ground floor and died upon impact. Other shoppers gasped as paramedics rushed the man away on a gurney. A spokesperson for the mall said that no one else was injured as a result of the suicide and that Tao's body was quickly removed from the premises. They added, "This is a tragic incident, but this time of year can be very stressful for many people." WHAT? No matter how stressful things can get, this is not the answer! And how about grabbing the body and getting it out of the mall as quickly as they can, so people can resume shopping? That is sick! Shouldn't there have been some sort of investigation?

I don't even know what to make of this. I think there were more issues within this guy mentally for him to take not wanting to shop this far. Maybe the girlfriend was verbally abusive? It seemed he didn't like the name calling, but even for that, just walk away. There was no reason to kill yourself in a public place putting other people in harm's way. This guy is no different than the shooter at the Garden State Plaza in New Jersey last month. This just proves that there are sickos all around the world!

TO PULL THE PLUG OR NOT PULL THE PLUG...THAT IS THE QUESTION!

I originally wanted to write a rambling today about how people think they own the whole road when they drive, but when I picked up the paper and read this story, I thought that it was incredibly sad. So, I figured I'd ruin your day by sharing this story with you. The girl in the photo above is 28-year-old Grace Sung Eun Lee. She was a financial manager at Bank of America, she was living in Manhattan and training to run the New York City marathon last year, when a month before the race, she fell ill and doctors found a tumor in brain stem. She would move to back her parents' Douglaston, Queens’ home while she received radiation and chemotherapy treatment. She regained some of her strength by the summer, but was still so ill that she could hardly move. 

On September 3, Grace had a seizure and she was rushed to North Shore Hospital in Long Island, where doctors put her on a ventilator and inserted a feeding tube. Her brain tumor had resurfaced and she was given months, or even weeks, to live. On September 18, doctors tried to remove the breathing tube to see if she could breathe on her own, but she couldn't. Since then Grace has been paralyzed from the neck down tethered to breathing and feeding tubes, but that didn't stop her from recently mouthing four words that have cause quite a tug-of-war between the her parents and the hospital. Grace said, "I want to die!"

 The doctors at North Shore are trying to honor Grace's wish, but her devout parents believe that removing the tubes is suicide, a sin that would condemn her to hell. Grace's parents, who are immigrants from Korea, have gone to court to keep their terminally ill daughter from pulling the plug. The case has virtually put medical ethics and religion on a collision course with lawyers arguing in two courtrooms while she lays there and can't do more than blink her eyes. Grace's father, Reverend Manho Lee, a prominent Queens pastor, pleaded to the judge, "The thought of her dying, my heart tremors, everything goes black." Grace's mother, Jin-ah Lee, doesn't believe that her always dutiful daughter has given up on life, or that her death is inevitable, even though, doctors are saying that it is. Her mother went on to say that Grace was depressed and not in her right mind.

At a recent hearing, a judge ruled that Grace Lee was indeed competent after listening to both sides. She is on medications, including morphine, and Ativan, but her doctors say the dosage isn't high enough to affect her reasoning. The hospital had a psychiatrist assess Grace, and he found her capable of making medical choices. The judge went on to say that this was a difficult decision and that his heart goes out to the Lees saying, "I feel your sorrow, I feel your pain, and I wish certainly that your daughter will recover and should recover, although that is unlikely.....I need to vacate the temporary restraining order and let things move through their other natural course and put Miss Lee in the hands of God."

The Lees appealed the court's decision immediately. The tubes will remain in place until a panel of judges weighs in. To be quite honest, this is a difficult decision! If I was suffering like Grace was, I would hope that my family would have the sense to just pull the plug because if I survive, I will never be the same and that would be more of a hell than the hell that you say I would go to if they did pull the plug. If Grace has lost her will to live, I think the parents should respect her wishes. Yes, it's hard to let your daughter go, but it's better than watching her suffer. This story was just too sad with no happy ending in sight!    

DANNY CHEN, AMERICAN SOLDIER DIES FROM BULLYING....THAT'S B.S.

Okay, before the jokes come out, I am in no way related to Danny Chen in any way other than the fact that we're both of Chinese descent, and I guess that's why his story hits so close to home for me. It actually kind of pissed me off because I thought that we were beyond all of this racist crap! What Danny went through was way beyond racism, and not to mention just plain B.S.

For those who are unfamiliar with the story, 19-year-old Danny Chen was a kid from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, who was said to be quirky and brainy with an offbeat sense of humor. He had dreams of becoming an New York City Police officer, but first he wanted to fight for his country and was shipped off to Afghanistan this past summer. This son of a Chinese chef and seamstress wanted to make something of his life, much like many Chinese who come to this country. It was when he joined the military when his nightmares began.

Even before they shipped him overseas, his fellow soldiers at a base in Georgia began teasing him about his last name "Chen" and crying it out in a Chinese accent. They would also call him "Jackie Chen", and everyone would ask him if he was Chinese, even though he was born in the United States. Okay, this is where I start to rant! First of all, how old are we when we're in the army? Seriously, you ignorant assholes? I, too, grew up in an all-white suburb in New Jersey and often dealt with being called Bruce Lee or Bluce Ree. I was also often called a chink, gook, egg roll, pork-fried rice, zipperhead, etc. You get the idea. Then again, those were kids. As I got older, the teasing stopped and I was treated as an equal. My uncle always told me that if someone asked me if I was Chinese, my correct response should always be that "I'm an American of Chinese descent" because Chinese people are born in China! A black man born in China is Chinese, a white man born in China is Chinese. I was born in Paterson, NJ making me more American than most of you reading this right now! I believe the same went for Danny Chen.

Chen kept a diary when he was shipped overseas, and in the diary, there were examples that showed his bullying got even worse. For instance, soldiers would drag him across the floor while pelting him with stones. They would also force him to hold liquid in his mouth while hanging him upside down. From what it sounds like, Danny was being tortured in another country by our very own men, who are supposed to be defending our country and our rights! Because of all this torturing and bullying, Danny Chen took his own life back in October, as he was found dead in a guard house in Afghanistan with self-inflicted gun shot wounds. This didn't have to happen if people just grew up and focused more on what 's important, like defending this country rather than making fun of this American kid. Man, does this story anger me!

This past Wednesday, the Army announced that eight soldiers were being charged in Danny's death saying that he was the victim of illegal hazing. Five of the accused are being charged with involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide. The alleged offenses also include maltreatment, assault, and threats. Good! These guys should all be tortured and threatened the way they made Chen feel. I can't say that I've ever felt that I was bullied to the point where I wanted to take my own life, but it does make you think about what kind of people they are enlisting in the Army. The way Chen was treated, you would think that those guys never saw someone of Chinese descent before, and in a melting pot like America, that really, really surprises me.

Like Danny, when I was made fun of as a kid, I would use humor to get away from the racist taunts. I might still even use it today, but I also noticed that if you have fun with it, people don't really turn it into a harassing situation because they see that it doesn't bother you. Unfortunately for Danny, he was stuck with these guys and had to see them everyday, so I'm sure those jokes eventually ran out. Trust me, I'm proud of my Chinese heritage, and I'll always remember where I come from, but I am an American, and like I said, I might be way more American than some of you, and as an American, I have to say that a fellow American should never have been treated in this manner! It's absolutely disgusting and makes me embarrassed to be a proud American!