Holistic vs "Half-listic"

In a city once abounding with Catholic hospitals there is one left (a merger of Mercy Hospital and UPMC).  Some think it will dissolve into UPMC completely and cease to be a faith-based care facility. While secular hospitals have noble philosophy statements, they fall woefully short in being holistic.  There is more to health than our physical bodies and there is more to life than the medical.  Catholic hospitals know this. UPMC -- ostensibly -- is  about care, but the bottom line rules.  In a Catholic hospital the bottom line is total care towards complete health ... including faith.  Secular hospitals will never offer total care and health as long as they see the practice of faith as a symptom of weakness and disease.

What's in a Name?

A lot ... if the name is America.  The country and the band.  Three Air Force brats (long stationed in England with their families) named their band after the country "they hardly knew" as one liner note said.  We, however, came to know them quickly after their song "Horse with No Name" rode a Saturn V rocket to the top of the charts in America and the UK.  Their debut album earned them a Grammy for 1972 Best New Artist.

One track on that album (that's what we called them) is Dewey Bunnell's song ... Three Roses.  In an era of enigmatic lyrics Dewey's simple statement of love and the yearning for personal growth were clear.  The chorus phrase "three roses were bought with you in mind" was understood at face value ... by anyone in love. 

Eventually the image of three roses became a personal metaphor for our three daughters.  With one deceased since her second day of life, I always pictured one white rose and two red.  Heather, Hilary and Hannah.  Three roses.

To them and to their mother I dedicate this blog.  The horse had no name but, for me, the three roses always will.