Posts by Hannah Edwards

silenthawk11 said:There isn't any "melting pot" DNA in my family tree.

😳 😁

Of course. When you grow up in a monastery 😁

I actually made it to the concert myself 👍

Edward Green said:Once you're dead, it's not yours anymore, because you don't exist.

I don't know. Personally, I prefer the idea where people who are strictly against it have to declare it upfront, rather than forcing those who want to donate to speak up first. For instance, if it were up to me, I’d be fine with being torn apart—take whatever can help someone else, burn the rest, and scatter the ashes somewhere. But honestly, I'm just lazy, and I really can't face going to some doctor's office to sign a formal statement. Or wherever you sign that stuff. I'm just not interested in making decisions that affect my life while I'm still breathing, let alone messing with what happens to my body once I'm gone. 😁

Actually, that legal issue affects you while you're alive. Not when you're dead. Nobody needs you once you're dead.😁

While you're living, they treat you like an organ farm. You're walking down the street, but there are already lines drawn all over you in red ink, marking up which organs are available. 😉

It bothers me that even when I'm healthy and alive, I'm treated like a potential carcass waiting for a butcher to come along, slice me up, and sort the useful parts from the waste based on whatever they need at that exact moment.

If I could, I'd go find a way to just erase those marks from my body entirely.
😉
But then again, that's just politics. Politics has stepped in and complicated what should be a noble, personal choice made by people who want to donate their organs. That's the part that actually gets under my skin. I have nothing against donation itself. 👋

Betty Hill82 said:That law didn't pass here. And honestly, I'm glad.

Actually, that law did pass.

Edward Green said:But the state simply doesn't have that kind of authority. 🙂

Look, if you aren't comfortable with the idea of donating your organs for whatever reason, you can simply decide during your lifetime that you don't consent. It’s that simple. Period.

It just seems logical to me that I shouldn't have to sign off on any laws that restrict how I control my own body.

I might eventually consider issuing authorizations. But I’m certainly not going to pre-emptively defend someone else's right to claim something that doesn't belong to them. It belongs to me, not him.

Edward Green said:I’m not so sure about that. In my view, it makes more sense that if you explicitly do *not* want your organs to save someone else's life, you have to state that upfront, rather than having to opt-in if you actually do want to help.

And honestly, I don't get why someone wouldn't want their kidney to help out. What good is it to them once they're gone?

Edward, that impulse to help others when you can—it's perfectly fine, and of course, I support it.

What bothers me about this specific law is that I see it as a dangerous overreach by the government into an individual's privacy and the right to bodily autonomy. To me, that sets a very risky political precedent.
It's even more dangerous regarding the long-term principles of democracy and personal liberty.
The state, just like any single person, should never be granted absolute authority over my organs—whether I am alive or deceased.

As a free individual, I must remain sovereign over my own body.

That is, in my opinion, one of the fundamental pillars of freedom. Only after we establish that can we discuss obligations, such as my "duty" as a free citizen to donate all my organs to some unspecified person X.

This law genuinely terrifies me. If we follow this logic—and I'll use a bit of hyperbole here to make my point—tomorrow the government could pass a law stating that everyone with blue eyes is obligated to donate one to the "greater good" for people who are blind.

The state, as an institution, shouldn't hold this much power over the individual. It isn't right. The individual must be able to check and balance the state.

Michael Perez said:Thanks for the input... it pretty much confirmed what I was already suspecting. I'm definitely an organ donor after I pass (even though I haven't officially signed the paperwork yet), and my family will eventually have to deal with the questions. But honestly, if someone is desperate for a kidney and I die young... well, I think that kidney would move at light speed and nobody would even blink.
It’s like an autopsy happens and nobody even realizes a piece of me is missing...

And believe me, I actually WANTED a donor card, but now that I see it doesn't really mean anything or change the process... what's the point of even asking for one?

Is it just to make me feel more integrated into the system or something?

Hey Michael Perez, here's the whole discussion about the stuff you're interested in over on the politics board. It's actually a decent read.

All these exercises work on a similar principle to how you build muscle in the gym.🙂The difference is that if you stay consistent, you’ll actually see visible mass gains in basically every muscle group within about three months.
I honestly don't know a single person who successfully lowered their prescription through sheer discipline, and I'd be genuinely curious to hear from Jonathan Harris74—did you stick with it long enough to see results? 🙂

On another note, I just had to vent about the quality of these Focus dailies. They are absolutely terrible. My eye doctor talked me into trying them this time just to see what the hype was about, but my vision isn't even clear. It feels blurry, and they barely last a single day before they start irritating my eyes. Plus, if you happen to stay up late wearing them, they actually stick to your eyeball. 😢

They don't compare to Acuvue at all, which are fantastic. Even though those are daily lenses, you can comfortably wear them for two or three days straight without any issues.
I have no idea why they push Focus dailies so hard in advertisements; based on my experience, the quality is just subpar.

viviana said:... .. a friend of mine always says everything happens for a reason—nothing is just a coincidence... 🙂

👍

I find myself caught in this loop, swinging between two ideas. On one hand, I get stuck thinking that we don't control anything at all. If there's zero control, then maybe things don't need a grand purpose either. Since nobody is actually at the wheel, whatever happens simply happens. It's just an occurrence, not some cosmic design.
On the other hand, I drift toward the idea that everything does, indeed, have a reason.

I’ll admit, that second thought feels much more comforting when I’m the one making a mistake. But once reality hits and I'm dealing with the fallout? Then I tend to lean back toward that first perspective. 😁

Sure, those little setbacks—they really wake us up. Because it’s only when we feel them grinding under our teeth that we get this tiny window to actually... well, figure out what's going on...🤔? Nothing, right 😉

But that’s exactly the point. Since we're essentially flying blind, and since those little bumps in the road are both painful and surprisingly helpful, we have to learn to just accept them. You just have to say, "Eh, it's not my first rodeo," and bite down with a massive grin.😁

P.S. I'm heading over to check out that thread now. Thanks for the heads-up. I am completely fed up with politics; I've had my fill of those kinds of headaches 😁.
Right now, I'm just looking for some fresh cheesecake 👋

I sometimes find myself daydreaming about everything working out exactly the way it should. I love the idea of parallel universes existing out there—places where I slip away whenever I’m struggling to make a choice or feeling indecisive 😁

It feels like we have this incredible amount of freedom to do whatever we want. We just have to be ready to own the consequences 😉

viviana said:Come on, let's just stay on topic here...

That data is just as much of a mystery to me too. I honestly have no clue where they vanish to right when we need to make a critical decision. It feels like they're just cowards, plain and simple. They’re terrified of being held accountable.

😉 thanks🙂

Regarding relevance—I think we're okay if we just accept that we aren't in control of everything. We're never going to have all the facts. Even so, you have to move forward.

We can never truly predict how that one little ingredient we tossed into the batter is going to react later on...

And maybe life is just this chaotic space where we try to force meaning onto things, failing to realize that the only battles that actually matter are the ones we fight within ourselves. 🙂

Sorry if I killed the vibe—I just got back from a political rally, and honestly, I didn't mean to hijack the conversation. Please, keep going 😢 😉

Honestly, 😉 we make all these massive life decisions without having nearly enough data to back them up. Then, we just end up standing there, completely blindsided by our own choices, wondering how we managed to screw things up yet again. 😁

dustypilot22 said:👍 😳

And that was once how much I actually believed in democracy. 😵

dustypilot22 said:I have nothing against a dictatorship, provided I’m the one running the show.

If my memory serves me right, we've actually touched on this topic before.

The truth is, I think I’d be a much more effective dictator than you would be. 😉

Chris Chase said:Since when did you develop such an issue with Italian surnames and Italians? 😕 😳

It’s just not happening. You can play dictator all you want, but every American from the South is going to enjoy a special kind of civic status in your little pretend state.

😁

I don't have a problem with Italians, obviously, nor with Americans from the South. What does the current Italian situation have to do with West Virginia? 😕

And regarding dictatorship—after seeing how messy multi-party politics can get, I'm becoming more and more of a supporter of a single 😉

Chris Chase said:Personally, I’d support giving up California under some heavy-handed leadership if it meant we could finally fold West Virginia into the US.

Care to elaborate?

😁 😁 😳

Come on, Bronx, step out of the shadows. This whole illegal thing isn't working for you, and frankly, I’m not a fan of your new handle either.😉

As for swapping territories—sure, why not? But if you're bringing West Virginia into the mix, you're also bringing all those folks from California along with them.😉 😁

Hannah Edwards said:I won't go so far as to say you aren't actually pretty close to that status yourself...😛 😁

What's next? You want us to measure chest size to see who’s closer to their belly button? Whoever wins gets the prize? 🙄

😂

Hannah Edwards said:What's your problem with retirees?🙂
Weren't tribal leaders back in the day often wise old elders or something like that? Ccccc......:

(In all seriousness) most of today's politically active AARP members (the retiree party of America)
really screwed this country while they were still capable of working.

You can see it clearly right now during these local elections. A huge chunk of you 😉 used to be socialist directors or former political party officials—basically people who never actually worked a real job.

The peak of absurdity is seeing young people on the AARP candidate lists. They're only there because the retirees didn't have enough of their own people to fill the slots. What exactly are they representing? What do they even want? To represent the interests of pensioners? 😁

And the biggest idiots are those voting for the AARP at the local level hoping for... what, exactly? 🙄,
but knowing the level of political wisdom you've shown on these forums so far... 😁