It hurt today as I said goodbye to Max. Our little dog would have turned 13 in a few days but he never made it. He was getting weaker and on Monday he was so sick that I stayed home from work with him and held him most of the day. I had to carry him as he had no energy even to come back in from going outside. There was nothing the vet could

Comforting friends who have gone through significant hurt or loss is not easy. We want to support and encourage our friends during their time of trial, but often what we say can only make things worse. One of my professors, while teaching a graduate course I took called "Evil & Suffering" (not the most uplifting course name ever devised) talked...

Six months ago a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake left nearly a quarter of a million people dead and another 1.5 million people homeless. As the terrible news was broadcast around the globe, governments worldwide pledged over $5billion in relief. Although relief efforts to this point have been commendable, months later most of that money has yet...

Too often people are tempted to put a band-aid on a problem instead of really fixing it. That was the thought that came to mind when I read an article in the Globe & Mail titled "Suicide barrier on Bloor Viaduct worked, but jumpers went elsewhere": The Bloor Viaduct suicide barrier, a $6-million feat of engineering that managed to marry heritage...

Dr. Jack Kevorkian has been called many things. To some he’s an angel of mercy, to others an angel of death.  I never expected him to be a cynic. Kevorkian is famous for his role in over 130 assisted suicides – a procedure he refers to  as Patholysis.  In an interview with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta they explained the term: "Path means disease...

We’ve all had moments when we’ve wished the ground would open up and swallow us. For one family in Quebec that’s exactly what happened.  According to reports on CNN.com a 500 yard sinkhole opened up threatening five homes in the town of Saint-Jude.  One home was sucked into the hole and a family of five lost their lives.  They were in the...

At 19 weeks I gave birth to a little boy.  We named him Jacob.  We said hello and goodbye in the same hour. He is not a miscarriage or an almost-child, he is my son.  This letter was written three years after his birth.  This is a glimpse into my mother’s heart, a letter written to Jacob my son who resides in heaven.  If you (or someone you...