Dodging MAiD bullets; Learning Latin like Isaac Watts; Hey Fat Fingers
3 Things this week and a poem
Thanks for spending some of your weekend with Things I Wrote Down.
There are no dull moments, are there?
Yesterday morning we rescued a chipmunk from the pool. It was young, must have been thirsty, fell in. As I cleaned the coffee urn in the sink, I happened to look out through the window to see it fighting for it’s last breath. How valiantly it struggled.
The kids spent all morning urging it to live before baseball practice. It didn’t look promising at first. But it did. After a few hours of fighting to breathe, CeCe (the survivor) perked up, crawled back to the terrible, marvelous world.
All things bright and beautiful.
1. Dodging MAiD bullets
When I got this news, all I could do was give glory to God. Michal Kaliszan, who you may remember from our episode about euthanasia and people living with disabilities, didn't go through with euthanasia.
He requested a MAiD assessment because he thought dying was a better option than going to a care facility where he'd sit in soiled diapers all day, which seemed to be his fate. But since our interview, he's found in-home care.
Meagan Gillmore (who also appears in the episode) interviewed him for Canadian Affairs. This stands out:
“I think in hindsight, I was giving up a little too soon,” he said about his request for a MAID assessment. At the time, he was exhausted, physically and emotionally — and grieving his mother’s death.
“There is hope,” he said. “It just requires perseverance and staying in the fight long enough.”
2. Learning Latin like Isaac Watts
It's that time of year, again, when I start to work on Christmas content for the Skit Guys. This year I'm doing some research on the story behind some amazing and popular Christmas songs. I stumbled onto the life and work of Isaac Watts who is known as the “greatest name among hymn-writers.”
When some of us were just learning how to tie our shoes or how to throw a baseball, little Isaac was learning Latin (at four years old) and composing legit poems (by the age of seven).
What a towering figure in literature that we know so little about today! Here’s an in-depth article about his life and poetry.
Just for kicks: If you're interested in learning Latin, there's a popular new X account (@latinedisce) that is doing just that, making the ancient language relevant again.
3. Hey Fat Fingers
No matter how dumb you're feeling about a mistake, take heart, it wasn't this bad:
Trader’s ‘fat finger’ costs Citi $79 million after U.K. fines bank over mistake that triggered 2022 market spasm
In what’s being described as one of the costliest typos of all time, a trader’s error lost the market millions and Citi bank was fined 7 figures.
While the trader meant to place a $58 million sale, they accidentally made it $444 billion. Oopsie!
And I thought my bank fees were bad. The lesson here: Next time you're processing a multi-billion dollar transaction, double check your numbers!
A poem
Discovering that God opened up a way even when there seemed like there was no possible way in Michal’s situation was so wonderful.
It reminded of this poem about a heart being renovated with hope.
these words of life you form in me these words of life you form in me take shape of always remembered things the soft whisper hits its mark cuts through every fragment a violence against the hardness of my heart you quiet noise with song you speak into the endless void of silence form such life in me those words seeds organic, rooted growing renovate a heart of hope in me ©️ 2024 Andrew Kooman
So encouraged that Michal found a new reason for hope. Praying for many more Canadian stories like his...