Snippets (defn. small pieces)

At the wake last night, a group of parents talked of various issues that are worth noting, among them the following:

Toxicologists. Toxicology is the science of studying poisons, so it follows that toxicologists are scientists who study poisons, yes? So possibly, a doctor's use of the word in the following context isn't apt. She said, "If one were to listen to toxicologists, everything is dangerous to one's health." On the other hand, maybe her use of the word toxicologists is apt in the sense that people like them view anything and everything as toxic to the body. When one reads the papers on health, one begins to worry: nothing seems safe to eat any longer. Something or other which was formerly considered good for the health is suddenly found to be bad. What do we do now? Abstain from food forever? Simply starve to death? Or do we eat in moderation and simply die a slow death? Do we eat heavily and hasten our death? Whatever. As one friend's priest relative who was diabetic said while eating brazo de mercedes, "I want to die happy." Epicures and gourmands, unite!

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Putting drops of Joy on a plate, maybe a white saucer with water, can kill mosquitoes within a distance of 10 feet. So a doctor said he read. Interesting, we thought. Then it occurred to me that given such data, before long, toxicologists or their ilk will pronounce Joy washing detergent unfit for cleaning anything used for eating.

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A friend in his mid-fifties shared after the mass his concern that we had eaten hopia minutes before receiving commmunion. While the rest of us assured him "That's no longer observed", he wasn't appeased. One said, "Vatican II pa yan." He countered, "No, Vatican II said we had to abstain from food an hour before the mass." So I tried to be helpful and suggested, "Maybe the Jesuits said so?" That elicited a guffaw from him. Like most of us in the group, he is Jesuit educated. He almost concurred with my statement but knowing him, he might just ask a Jesuit to verify. Up till now, his family observes the one-hour rule such that anyone who wakes up late goes to mass hungry.

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Fraternities and sororities. Given the Mendez case which is in the papers everyday, he who was a victim, yet another victim of frat hazing, the topic came up in the course of our conversation last night. I guess because I don't come across as intimidating but merely curious, which I am about why people join fraternities/sororities, my companions last night openly answered my questions on the topic.

A doctor admitted he was a frat member in med school. I asked why he chose to become one and he said it was a matter of friendship. While in first year first sem at med school, his team mates in soccer who were older and were frat members said he should join the frat. And so by the second sem he did. I asked if he was paddled/belted and he said he was. I asked if by the time it was his turn to whack whether he enjoyed it and saw it as a chance to get back at someone else (pay it forward?) in recompense for what he himself had gone through. He admitted that the first time he got the chance to whack, he did it with relish. But by the time he was the initiation master, it was he who'd restrain those earnestly paddling the young recruits.

A lady said she was a member of a sorority too. I asked if she went through hazing and yes, she did. The rule was to hit the buttocks only but sometimes the whacker missed and hit other parts, occasionally hard. She said as she was known to be cerebral rather than emotional, when they saw her crying, they saw it as a sign of her breaking down and stopped the physical torture. The ruse worked.

At any rate the frat/sorority members I spoke with admitted that occasionally, victims of hazing needed dialysis, maybe one or two sessions, if the hematoma they suffered was too much for the kidneys to handle. They also said that medical frats/sororities suffered fewer victims possibly because these medical people knew the human anatomy and were aware of what would be harmful/excessive.

Interesting, but the idea of frats/sororities is something I will never understand. Nor is it something I wish to be convinced to side with.

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Will I ever get a chance to ask questions as probing of members of the Left? In the course of doing so, I know I will be careful not to show I condemn their ways. I am curious but at the same time certain I'll not be swayed.