Liverpool Care Pathway - The Joy Of Living

Life is a gift. It is not a nuisance to cut out or a burden to put down.





Whatever your belief perspective, one life or many, or life eternal, life is always precious because living matters. You matter. Your life matters. Every ripple on the pond makes a wave upon the ocean. Every move you make; every breath you take: it really does matter in the grand scheme of things. There are always, always consequences.

Whatever your belief perspective, one God or none, or Pantheon of Gods, your place in this world is settled: you are here; you are part of the motor of existence. And you matter.

Whatever your belief perspective, there are certain universal principles that guide us: a belief in truth and justice, certainly; that those who make the law should not break the law, perhaps.

Those who place themselves above the law, we have torn down and they have paid for their hubris. And those who place themselves above and beyond the law? How shall we deal with them when the time comes?

Serious, angry thoughts for Life Café.

And some absolutely essential reading for Living Matters Awareness Week...

Liverpool Care Pathway - A Life Café Poser

Living Matters Awareness Week is less than eight weeks away – have you thought about holding an event? Whether you have a plan yet or not, here are some ideas and inspiration to help you prepare.

First of all, were you aware that April is Pet First Aid Awareness Month. Have you thought what you would do if the circumstance arose that required prompt action to be taken? American Red Cross have produced a Pet First Aid App that might help. This is American Red Cross –

Take care of your furry family member. The American Red Cross Pet First Aid app puts veterinary advice for everyday emergencies in the palm of your hand. Get the app and be prepared to act when called upon. With videos, interactive quizzes and simple step-by-step advice it’s never been easier to know Pet First Aid.

Download from the iTunes, Google Play or Amazon Marketplace app stores.

Their lives are precious, too. And living matters

Your event

A Living Matters Awareness Week event can be large, small or anywhere in-between. To give you inspiration, here's a small selection of ideas:

• Coffee morning at the library in aid of the Red Cross, with resources on display. Red Cross will be happy to assist.
• Living matters for pets, too. Promote that Pet First Aid App.
• A Red Cross or St. John's display to promote CPR instruction in schools.
• Ask Red Cross or St. John's for promotional materials on First Aid and hold a 'Live In' event.
• A Life Cafe. 
• An afternoon of activities, including screenings of the Vinnie Jones videos on You Tube.
• Hold a sponsored sing-along of “Staying Alive” in aid of your local Red Cross.

With over half the population fully trained in CPR, Seattle has the world's highest survival rate, at 56%. This is Puget Sound Business Journal –

If you have a witnessed heart attack in the Seattle area, your survival rate is greater than anywhere, and it just got higher. In fact, the survival rate for a common form of heart arrest, ventricular fibrillation, where the heart stops beating and is, in essence, just quivering, is now up to 56 percent in our region.

These recently released numbers represent an increase for the third year in a row and the highest reported survival rate in the world, compared to between 2 and 25 percent nationally. The 56 percent number is almost identical in all of King County.

Learn Hands-Only CPR from the American Red Cross

 AmRedCross

Today, I spoke with a man who works with Probation in ‘Pay Back’ (Community Service). They have been doing work at our project. Yes, ‘community service’ really is community service.

He talked about the private tendering of the Probation Service; how they had already tried it in London and it hadn’t worked and they had taken it back in-house. He is currently employed by a ‘holding company’ and we spoke of the moral issue involved in a business in which there is a conflict of goals.

Reducing or eliminating offending, if that is possible, must surely put the business out of business, for then there will be no business. So why should shareholders risk their money in such a venture? Can we see another Python sketch here forming in our heads?

This good man spoke of a motivational talk they had all been sent on. The speaker was a South African, he said, a blind man, whose message was that you always embrace change; you don’t give up and fold before it. “He had us in stitches!” he said.

This good man spoke to the blind man after the talk. This blind man’s name is Miles Hilton Barber. He grew up in what is now Zimbabwe. He has flown from London to Sydney in a microlight, walked to the South Pole and plans on walking to the North. He has flown a jet fighter upside down with a sighted deaf man.

He does it for charity to fund giving the gift of sight to blind African children. The joy he says to hear a mother cry to see her child can see is immeasurable reward.

This is his website –

Why would you not consider it so, that life is a gift? No matter what, you do what you can with what you have, the cards that you are dealt. It's how you decide to play them.