Have you ever thought about the last minute of your life? (Beware.)

[understandinglife]

What was his last minute like?



No, not Mogadishu or Darfur or Fallujah or ... that's a chain-link fence in the good ol' USofA -- New Orleans.

Who is that fellow citizen?

How much had he already suffered?

What did he like to do when he was 3 or 4 years old?

Did he ever have a bicycle or a book or a teacher or a friend?

What was it like in the last 10 minutes of his life?

Was he thinking of his mother or his nephew or the girl he loved when he was 14?

What was it like five minutes before he died -- struggling in rapidly moving flood water filled with sewage?

What was it like as he was pulled under water and struggled to get above the surface and gasp a breath?

What was it like when that torrent drove his body into that chain link fence and skewered him?

Under water; impaled on a fence; gasping; oh, god, oh, mother, oh, someone, .... death.

For those of you who read the book that talks of the 'least of me' -- for those of you who spew 'value of life' -- for those of you so willing to rush to the bedside of a vegetative human -- Why were you not risking your life to save this person?

Why?

Why?

What was he thinking the last 10 seconds of his conscious life?



Think about it.

He'll never, ever be able to think or breath or hear or smell or love or cry or ....., again.


Photo credit: "A corpse lies draped over a fence in the Ninth Ward Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005, in New Orleans," says the Associated Press
http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/09/category-911.html



Peace.

[alittlelark]

1. Given his emaciated state, it wasn't a great last thought

I hope I am wrong. His emaciation and the location of the body give me the shivers. I would like to think he was just stuck on the fence after floating for days, but the emaciation rules that out. A body in H2O bloats for weeks (gasses being released....).

This person was alive for at least 10 days after the flood.

[joanne]

3. We'll never know the suffering he endured

or countless others.

[Nothing Without Hope]

22. He isn't emaciated, he's skeletonized. His body was left to the elements

for THREE WEEKS. I read in an news article somewhere that it was known he was there, that his head was mostly skeletonized. Yes, they knew he was there, with his head in the toxic mud and his body draped like human garbage in that desolation. Except that even garbage is usually gathered once a week.

After the Asian tsunami, bodies even in out-of-the-way, hard-to-get-to places were gathered in far less time. This man and many others were just left to rot miles or less from thousands of swarming military and mercs in the middle of a major American city. Obviously, rescuing people and dealing with the dead were not a priority in the orders those people received.

And then there are all those hundreds of communities OUTSIDE big cities who have been abandoned by FEMA and even the Red Cross from the start. Who are STILL abandoned. Here's just one that found a voice:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4826142
thread title: Please Please! People on the ground at Bogalusa need

Many - hundreds, maybe thousands - of those uncollected bodies in New Orleans and all over Katrina's wake will have died in just the last week. At what point does catastrophic, unspeakably callous incompetence become indistinguishable from mass murder?

This poor man did not die of dehydration and starvation as so many did. He died in terrible fear and desperation, but it was not prolonged by days, weeks of suffering and horror and slow descent into painful death. But then, we already know that the Bush Administration is a fan of torture.

Somewhere he has friends and family who are desperate to know where he is, if he's safe, when they will hear his voice. May they find what comfort they can and may they never learn that his body is the one in this image.

This image has been widely seen. I am wondering how many survivors with missing male family members wonder if their loved one is that pitiful body on the fence. How can they be sure it's not when so little progress has been made in even accurate COUNTING of the dead, let alone collection of the bodies and identification? It must be torture for them. And many of them may never be able to be sure. What a nightmare, to have that image as the possible end of someone you love, someone whose disappearance remains a trauma and an unresolved mystery.

But the feds have other priorities than saving lives and gathering the dead, once again demonstrating all too clearly that they do NOT represent US. To them, he IS less than garbage. Could it be any more obvious?

[understandinglife]

27. Exactly, Hope. Exactly.

And, while it is unbearable to realize what we all must accept when we view it, we all have our life.

And, we must do everything we can, while we still have it, to prevent another image like this appearing and demonstrating that we have failed humanity as a Nation, as a civilization, yet again.


Peace.

[Nothing Without Hope]

38. I rewrote that message about 5 times since you saw it. I'll also add the

image and story of Mr. Hollingsworth below. A beloved husband and father, a 74-year-old Korean War veteran, he was trapped in his New Orleans house FOR TWO WEEKS, again, close to where all those swarming troops were doing more "important" things than saving lives or gathering bodies. I'll post at the end of the reply thread with his image and how the story turned out.

I hope you do re-read my rewritten post on this terrible, devastating image. You are so right, we have to face it and find the right combination of compassion and will to move forward so this NEVER NEVER NEVER happens again and that the suffering victims of this Administration's murderous neglect are given comfort, healing and aid.

[hiley]

34. yes, it is very obvious

and thank you, like always a very thoughtful post.

[understandinglife]

48. Hope, it could not be more obvious how different most Americans ...

.... are from the criminals that currently comprise Bush's neoconster regime. They are fully exposed.

Everyone paying attention knows the truth - whether they are willing to admit it someone else or not.

That, as you know, is the message of the pamphlet -- no excuses; be a citizen, not a victim. These people work for us; it's time we remove them from their jobs and spend a bit more of our money indicting and prosecuting them.

And, all the money we can save by not fighting illegal wars, jetting people to places where they can be tortured, and antagonizing the entire world with arrogance, avarice, lust for killing and even fancier devices for death and destruction -- all that money instead can be devoted to health care, to education, and to feeding and sheltering our fellow citizens.


Peace.

[cynatnite]

2. Would you please put 'graphic photo' in the title please? n/t

[understandinglife]

4. I think the title is more than adequate. Thank you.

Peace.

[cynatnite]

8. It's been the courtesy in the past here at DU...

for graphic photos to be stated in the subject line.

[understandinglife]

12. I've asked the reader if they have thought about the last minute of their

... Life. I hardly think the image is a discourtesy; it is reality.

That person impaled on that chain link fence would likely prefer to be sitting in front of a computer contemplating their final moment instead of being dead.

That's the message.

I have no intention of hiding reality from anyone.

If the question, "have you considered the last minute of your life?" insufficient warning to what you are about to confront if you open the OP, then "graphic photo" seems only a convenient excuse to not proceeding.

Sorry if you or someone else is offended, but as I see it, I owe it to that dead fellow citizen to find any and every way I can to get as many people as I can to see him skewered on that chain link fence.


Peace.

[cynatnite]

13. That's not the point I'm making....

DU courtesy in the past has always been to have graphic photo in the title. Most here at DU abide by the requests of others not to be subjected to graphic photos. I prefer not to be.

I dealt enough with this kind of thing in the Army and in emergency rooms when I was in the medical field. I had enough of it and I want the choice as to whether I want to view graphic photos or video.

I understand your point, but common courtesy has always been to state these things since I have been here at DU for over a year.

[understandinglife]

15. Well, it is the point I am making. And, as an MD I've seen plenty of ...

... death and plenty of suffering and plenty of misery and that does not change the reason for exactly why this post is constructed the way it is.

If you look at comments # 11 and 14, you will have it explained as well as I will ever be able to explain it.

I refuse to be gentle when I am asking each person who reads the subject line == Have YOU thought about the last minute of YOUR LIFE?

(Beware.) is the one warning I'll provide.


Peace.

[cynatnite]

16. I saw the subject line change...thanks n/t

[understandinglife]

20. Well, I hope you spend some time thinking about the question ...

... and, more importantly, about, not an image, but about the person who is now no longer among us -- one of our fellow citizens.


Peace.

[hiley]

21. I am glad you have a choice,

as the person who is skewered to the fence had no choice..

[hiley]

33. I have to say something else..

The fellow America in the picture from the 9th Ward of New Orleans who died such a horrible death, do you think he or she was treated with common courtesy? or abandoned?

left without respect on fence for weeks??

We have no way of even knowing their name!

[MADem]

45. I'm with you--it is common courtesy.

Which, sadly, nowadays, seems to be less common, and more rare.

[alittlelark]

5. I'd bet 90+% of ppl here have seen the shot.

It is similar to the 'napalm girl' shot in Vietnam.

My 11 yr old daughter has seen both (one in school, and 1 coming up behind me a few days ago). If an 11 year old can look at these pics and understand - why can't the rest of us. Look at the pics in the 'big picture' and they are no longer as obscene.

If she can 'get it' without trauma, we DUers can as well.

[cynatnite]

9. See post #8 n/t

[SomewhereOutThere424]

26. I agree. Plenty of people say beware and mean many things

But a dead rotting body tied to a fence post constitutes a bit of a greater description. Lots of us have had to see things we don't want to be reminded of, not to block out the carnage of NO, but just because it drives us to depression.

Please post more responsibly next time, even though I think it was a great post once you got past the title.

[hiley]

31. So much more than a "dead rotting body"

Someone's spouse, parent, child and friend.

[understandinglife]

32. Responsibly? You question my responsibility. Question your own ...

Don't question mine for asking a question that you had the full authority and power to either view or not.

I asked a question.

YOU made the decision to go forward.

I allowed you a choice.

I did not tell you, or instruct you, or command you to do anything.

I asked you a question.

You made a decision.

Who's responsibility is that?

That person in the image is the real-world basis to the answer to my question.

That person confronted the last minute of their life and they suffered through each of the remaining 59 seconds until they died.

What are you going to do during the remainder of your life to help as many people as possible never to suffer what your fellow citizen in that image suffered?


Peace.

[FreedomAngel82]

6. You need a warning on the picture

Not all of us can stand pictures like that.

[joanne]

7. You have to click on image to see the photo

and I think it is obvious from the post that it is graphic in nature.

I've nominated this post because I think people need to read it.

[cynatnite]

10. It is not obvious. n/t

[hiley]

24. You are right people do need to see and face it!

Our Government did much of this destruction and I nominated this thread as well.
I put this pic on my blog yesterday and no warning at all.
This is life and death, there is no pussy-footing around death and destruction.
I too wonder what the last thoughts were.

[don954]

11. Thank you for restoring this persons humanity

I have seen this photo and never allowed myself to think "this was a person, with thoughts and feelings just like you..."

For a brief moment, my hardened mind was allowed to mourn. I have this wall up all the time to keep it together with all the death and destruction and hate our world is going through, like many of us do, I forget to let to down for a while and cry a little..

Thank you.

[understandinglife]

14. Thank you for realizing exactly why I created this post. I have wept, ...

..., yelled, gone for two very long walks and literally screamed at the top of my voice, since I first saw this image (and the image of the person impaled on a tree limb, face down in the water; and, the image of the woman on the side walk; and ....) and I have thought and thought and thought -- HOW?

How can I bring as many as possible to think of these people as fellow humans, fellow citizens.

How could I bring as many of the living to realize how much each of us must protect all of us from ever suffering such a heartless, cruel fate.

And, this is my meager attempt.

Thank you for seeing it for what it is.


Peace.

[Nothing Without Hope]

37. The body with the tree limb has been incorporated into a powerful image:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4846739

[titoresque]

17. Thankyou very much for posting this

and for your words of compassion! You've given me a lot to think about.
We are all fortunate that photos such as these are even
arguable as to whether we should worry our beautiful minds with them!
I'm disgusted by the response to this thread. I saw that there were quite a few posts to it and as I started to read I expected thoughtful answers about the person in the photo......or about what are the important things in our lives.....the moments we will remember in our final minutes. And all I see is selfishness.

I think we should all be thankful and humbled by the fact that bodies in the streets are not our normal reality. You can CHOOSE to look away....you can choose to argue about this thread. Seriously, think about what you are saying......you had a chance to say something nice and meaningful.............I'm disgusted!

Thank you again.

[understandinglife]

18. You are most welcome. And, thank you for understanding why ...

... I posted it.

Someone must SEE this image. Not as an abstraction but for what it is.

It is one of our fellow citizens who suffered horribly and died in agony because those so much more powerful, those so much more wealthy simply did not care about 'the least of me' -- irrespective of how much time they spend in their grand churches and their grand mansions and their grand offices, exclaiming otherwise.

Thank you.


Peace.

[joanne]

19. Well said

[anarchy1999]

23. Peace and thank you. I'm so terribly sorry. N/T

[Old and In the Way]

25. Unsettling indeed.....

It had to have been total despair....

[hiley]

30. yes, despair

perhaps abandonment too.

[Vektor]

28. So terribly sad.

Thank you for posting this and putting a human face on yet another lost soul.

[Straight Shooter]

29. I did not click on the link until I saw the word "beware"

If it had said "graphic photo," I would not have entered this thread, because typically graphic photos are gory and difficult for me to look at.

However, a post by understandinglife is usually a good post, and this one is exceptional in its compassion. The photo, for some odd reason, does not disturb me greatly except for the indignity of this man's death, that he looks starved and abandoned. Perhaps his final thoughts were, "All my trials, Lord, will soon be over."

May he rest in peace. And may those who caused him such torment in his final days and hours receive what they deserve.

edit to add, I did not click at first because I thought it would be just a conversational type of thread.

[Nothing Without Hope]

35. A quote from over a hundred years ago that is all too relevant:

"Show me the manner in which a nation or a community cares for its dead. I will measure exactly the sympathies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals." --William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of Great Britain 1868-94

The massive callousness and murderous neglect that led to the abandonment and deaths of untold thousands - literally untold because the Administration is suppressing the true numbers - sends such a blatant message, I do increasingly suspect that some part of it is deliberate. If enough racial unrest or other civil protest can be incited and then hyped and spun, the neocons will have the excuse they have been wanting to declare wider martial law.

For more on this very real threat of martial law and the indications that is is a goal, read ALL of this thread, including the important, must-read articles posted in the replies:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4790112
thread title: Missing A KEY POINT in *'s speech: POWER GRAB FOR POTUS AND MILITARY

[Micky Ficky]

36. Stunning image

Reminds me of myself 17 years ago, hanging out the window of a 1979 Toyota Celica, after my lady & I hit a Jeep head-on at 50 mph on RT 123 @ Pohick RD in Fairfax VA.

I can tell you, my last thought was "SHIT"

I woke up four days later in ICU, surrounded by family and my woman (whose front teeth had been knocked out, and her lovely face cut up. But she wasn't as bad off as me)... it took me another day to realize what'd happened. How lucky I was to be alive.

Basically, I got scalped... by the window frame of the Celica, as I passed over the girl and my head hit the top of the door frame. Then I partially exited, shattering the window. According to the cops, the car spun about 4 times, almost tipped onto the roof.

They say I went into extreme shock... so they put me into an induced coma, so I wouldn't have a heart attack or something.

They lost my heartbeat three times during those four days. I don't remember any of it. But I have dreams sometimes, where my older sister is holding my hand while the staff tries to bring me back. Weird stuff. Life support is a bitch, but easy to get used to.


I do remember the catheter being pulled out. Unpleasant, unless you like penile torture.


Geez. My first post, and I'm talking too much. Sorry.

[Nothing Without Hope]

39. Welcome to DU, MF - it's that time of night and that kind of emotional

subject. That's part of the point of the image being shown again - connect with that suffering man and his family as a fellow human being, to internalize the unspeakable events of the Katrina aftermath as part of the process of moving forward to make very certain they NEVER NEVER NEVER happen again.

You connected. That's what this is about. I'm glad you and your lady survived. Clearly, having come so close to sudden death, you have a special insight.

I think I remember reading an article about people who thought they were going to die but survived. There was an informal poll of what their final thought was, and rather than the iconic flashing of the life in front of the eyes, most of them either simply went blank or thought as you did "OH SHIT" or "OH F**K!" Not a very holy phrase perhaps, but nobody can doubt the sincerity.

Again, welcome to our community! :hi:

[Micky Ficky]

40. lol.

I like to think my (almost) final thought was poetic.

Thanks for the welcome!

[understandinglife]

49. Welcome to DU and thank you for your thoughtful post. And, ...

... I'm glad you are here with us.


Peace.

[Nothing Without Hope]

41. The tree limb body has been incorporated into a powerful image:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4846739

The superposition of what they DO with what they SAY and how they pose as "compassionate Christians" prizing "the Culture of Life" is just devastating. There are so many biblical quotations that can be superimposed with the actions of these soulless criminals. "By their fruits you shall know them."

[Nothing Without Hope]

42. Another image to remember: Mr. Hollingsworth, trapped for OVER TWO WEEKS

in his New Orleans house before a group of California National Guards DISOBEYED THEIR FEMA ORDERS and broke into his damaged house after seeing a foot in the window. Can you imagine being trapped without food or water or a human voice for OVER TWO WEEKS???? SIXTEEN DAYS with no way to call for help and with no authority giving a damn if you are dying as they walk by?

I've seen this image given two titles:
"The American Shame" and "The American Pietá" It is BOTH:

http://www.ocregister.com.nyud.net:8090/newsimages/news/2005/09/14rescue.a1.jpg

Here is the dKos diary on this image and story:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/14/12516/3649
Here is the DU thread on it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4769370

Mr. Hollingsworth was rescued by the disobedient California National Guard unit, who gave him emergency treatment for his advanced dehydration and starvation and got him to a hospital, where he was joined by his family. But the story does not have a happy ending, for even for this tough man, sixteen days was just too much. Even ONE DAY EARLIER and he might have lived to enjoy his grandchildren.

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/12690628.htm

Katrina survivor dies days after rescue from New Orleans home

September 20, 2005
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - A 74-year-old survivor of Hurricane Katrina who was trapped in a New Orleans home for nearly two weeks has died of complications related to dehydration and malnutrition, the California National Guard reported Monday.

Edgar Hollingsworth, an Army veteran of the Korean War, died Saturday at a New Orleans area hospital, Air Force Capt. Brenda Hendrickson of the California National Guard told The Associated Press by phone from Louisiana. He had been found four days earlier buried under a pile of rubble.

(snip)

At the request of his wife, Lillian, military personnel and other authorities who helped rescue him will serve as pallbearers, along with his son, Wesley, the California National Guard said in a statement.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency had issued orders to rescue workers not to enter Katrina-ravaged homes unless they heard the cries of survivors. However, a National Guard team disobeyed orders after seeing Hollingsworth's foot protruding from the rubble of a home.

(snip)

How many other people lay trapped in their homes throughout the Katina-devastated areas and died without rescue? It's a long, hard death, dehydration and starvation. And every one of these deaths was AVOIDABLE. Indeed, the Bush Administration is doing all they can to SUPPRESS even the number of deaths, let alone how many died directly because of their actions and their massive negligence.

At what point does this scale of consistent, callous negligent homicide become mass murder?

For those whose backgrounds do not include familiarity with the Michaelangelo sculpture called "The Pietá," a famous life-sized marble carving of Mary cradling the dead Jesus after his removal from the cross, here's a photo of it. If you compare it with the photo of Mr. Hollingsworth's rescue by those caring National Guards, you'll understand the reference. The person who first pointed out the resemblance, cited in the dKos thread on this story, also gave a quote from Jesus: "...whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me." I'm not a Christian, but I sure get the point and I would like to see it driven home to all those loudly "pious" Fristians who were so eager to force that feeding tube into one brain-dead woman but have not lifted a finger for untold thousands of dying people in the South. See for yourself how the image of Mr. Hollingsworth is mirrored in this famous sculptural embodiment of profound grief:

I’m glad that Mr. Hollingsworth's family was with him in the hospital when he died and I’m moved that the family asked those disobediently compassionate California National Guards to be pall-bearers at his funeral. We all must share the pain and carry this burden as we walk toward the future.

[Z_I_Peevey]

43. I did not know the ending to Mr. Hollingsworth's story.

Thank you for posting that. May he rest in peace.

[understandinglife]

47. Thank you for posting this, Hope; for including it in this thread.

Peace.

[kentuck]

44. Three weeks later...

:sad:

[lala_rawraw]

46. kick