It is no doubt terribly painful to lose someone who is the love of your life. It is probably torture for them to still be alive but locked away from you. These are real, human, everyday pains that make no discrimination who they might affect. Young, old, rich, poor, the random afflictions and trials of life are just that- random. This is why it is so important to have an open world view because until you walk in someone's shoes, you just don't know. And sometime, when you get suddenly shoved into a pair of shoes that you didn't order, you'll find that perhaps the fit is too tight.

When I started out in this life, I followed my family's lead and was at one time a stout Christian and conservative person. Life changed me. I realize that there are so many facets and so many variables in the equation that to live such a stubborn and rigid way of thinking is illogical and really not an organic way to live life- and life is just that- organic. As I have said, you never know what is going to be throw your way so best you worry about you and let other people worry about themselves.

I suppose this is why I find this article so interesting. It's a classic example of what I am talking about when it comes to rigidity and a non-organic, inflexible, narrow-minded worldview. It's the idea that "This happens to everyone else but me" to "let's do this for the sake of 'we.'"

Nancy Reagan urges stem cell research

Former first lady Nancy Reagan made an impassioned call for taking controversial stem cell research out of the political arena, saying it could help cure illnesses like Alzheimer's which so sorely afflicts her husband.

With the Bush administration and anti-abortion groups strongly opposing stem cell research, Reagan at a celebrity-packed dinner in Beverly Hills on Saturday night lent a powerful conservative Republican voice to the debate.

Speaking to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Reagan noted that Alzheimer's had taken her husband Ronald Reagan "to a distant place where I can no longer reach him and share our 52 years."

Interesting. Because it personally affects Nancy, people need to throw away for a moment their political views? To me, this is akin to Christians who say that they are Christians, go to church on Sunday and then cheat on their spouses. It's the same as homosexual Christians. Sure, you might identify with the bible but the bible clearly states that that kind of behavior is a no-no.

I guess that is why it pays to have an open world view- it allows for the fact that sometimes life dishes you a bitter dish and you never know when you might have to swallow it or send it back. If it wasn't for Ronnie, this wouldn't be an issue for Nancy, one of the shining examples of the Conservative/Republican worldview. Talk about convenient hypocrisy.