Suffering

FEW CAUSES or crusades have such universal support as medicine's war against suffering. None of us wants to be sick or to be in pain. Most people do not want to die. Yet we rarely ask when enough is enough in waging that war.At the extreme, almost everyone deplores the end-of-life killings allegedly confessed to, though later denied, by a respiratory therapist at Glendale Adventist Medical Center in Glendale, Calif.Let us assume, kindly, that such killings occur when the killer cannot bear watching people die miserably.

THE BALTIMORE hay fever agony season tickles the respiratory system with an early harvest of misery. May those who suffer from this affliction be shown mercy.Anyone who is tormented by the August-September sneezing; watery, scarlet eyes; nasal complaints; reddened eyes; and generally foul moods has reason to worry. This has been an extremely wet summer. The weeds and grasses remain as lush as they were in May. I fear a bumper crop of whatever it is that sends me to my handkerchief drawer.

WASHINGTON -- Balkan savagery is forcing Americans to think through a moral dilemma that brings to mind one of the great comic figures of English fiction -- Mrs. Jellyby in Charles Dickens' ''Bleak House.''She makes a brief but telling appearance in a brilliant essay soon to be published in The National Interest quarterly.The essay is ''Compassion and the Globalization of the Spectacle of Suffering,'' by Clifford Orwin of the University of Toronto.Mrs. Jellyby was the ditzy do-gooder who practiced ''telescopic philanthropy.

For most people, waking up in a cheerful mood is a fine way to begin the day. But not in my line of work.Feeling bright and chipper could cause me to lose control and irresponsibly write something bright and chipper. And that would turn the stomachs of regular readers, thereby ruining their day too.Fortunately, that's seldom a problem. I was blessed with a naturally glum temperament that views each bright dawn as a potential disaster. When the golden sunlight streams through the window, my reaction is: "That hurts my eyes."

While chatting with a young audience on MTV, President Clinton was asked about the deep sense of "emptiness" that so many youths feel in their lives.The president responded with an upbeat pep talk, urging young people to shun cynicism and look to a brighter future.It will take more than pep talks and inspirational slogans to cure the widespread emotional blahs that allegedly afflict millions of young Americans.Because of the seriousness of this problem, I recently discussed with Dr. I.M. Kookie, the world-renowned expert on lots of stuff.

DETROIT -- Taking the stand for more than three hours yesterday in his trial for assisting a suicide, Dr. Jack Kevorkian steadfastly defended helping a 30-year-old man die last summer and said his aim was only to relieve the man's suffering."

Depression, the illness, runs in our family, There! I've said it, and it wasn't easy. Of the three generations now living, five members have had it and three of the youngest are now under treatment. We think it occurred, undiagnosed, two generations back beyond us, making five, in all.Thankfully, we believe that with the national free screening to be held tomorrow, thousands of others suffering from this ailment, which can cause despair, will be discovered and helped. As noted in Parade magazine, last year 24,000 were screened; this year as many as 50,000 are expected.

We've had the year of the woman and it is still going on, with females being elected to high office and named to Cabinet posts, and the power of Hillary Rodham Clinton.But what about Curtescine Lloyd? You never heard of her? Well, she is my choice as one of the most amazing and heroic women of recent years.Ms. Lloyd is a middle-aged nurse who lives with an elderly aunt in the rural hamlet of Edwards, Miss., near Jackson.This is her story, most of it taken from a court transcript.One night, Ms. Lloyd was awakened by a sound.

They didn't meet Pope John Paul II personally, but just being in his presence for about seven hours was enough of a spiritual experience to last them a lifetime.And praying together with hundreds of thousands of people from around the world certainly strengthened their faith, says a group of Harford County young pilgrims who participated in World Youth Day activities in Denver."It was overwhelming to be part of such a large group," said Matthew Behrens, 18, who was with a nine-member contingent from St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church in Hickory that traveled to Colorado to hear the pope.

Father ZhuJailed for beliefsBEIJING -- The Rev. Vincent Zhu Hongsheng, who spent 31 years in prison for his loyalty to the Vatican, died Tuesday in Shanghai of a heart ailment.The 76-year-old minister -- who was educated in France, Belgium, Ireland and the United States -- was jailed three times by the Communists, who broke ties with the Vatican in 1957 and established an independent Patriotic Catholic Church. He fought Beijing's orders to renounce loyalty to the Pope and was active in the underground church.

Animals are "put down" to humanely end their pain and suffering. Why do we show more compassion for animals than we do to our family members, friends and citizens of this state and nation who are suffering unendurable pain and who feel they can no longer go on ("2 accused of roles in suicide network," Feb. 27)? On what rational basis can the right to die with dignity be denied to those who are in great pain, who are debilitated or facing a devastating end-of-life illness? When will we be civilized enough as a nation to pass legislation in support of the individual's right to die when he or she has suffered enough and cannot endure anymore pain?

The Rev. James Lawson is out of step with modern Christianity. Take gay marriage. Speaking in support of a proposed state constitutional ban on same sex unions in Florida, one Rev. Hayes Wicker of First Baptist Church in Naples, Fla., was recently quoted by the Naples Daily News as saying, "This is a tremendous social crisis, greater even than the issue of slavery." As asinine as that remark is, it is perfectly in step with much of modern Christianity, which has spent years demonizing gay men and lesbians.

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Former President Suharto, an army general who rose to power in Indonesia with the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people and ruled for 32 years during an era of rapid economic growth and extraordinary graft, died yesterday in Indonesia. He was 86. Suharto's unyielding opposition to communism won him the backing of the United States during the height of the Cold War, although he was one of the most brutal and corrupt rulers of that era. He governed the world's fourth-most-populous nation with a combination of paternalism and ruthlessness from 1965 until he was ousted in spring 1998.

Dr. Paul McHugh, psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1975 to 2001, is teaching and imparting the advice he gathered during his many years in medicine. These days, he is a University Distinguished Service Professor and remains an active member of the Hopkins community. He teaches across the university, including students in the psychiatry residency program at the medical school. While making ward rounds, McHugh will lead talks about drug addiction among the patients. "Occasionally these discussions can be confrontational," he said, adding, "I'm trying to get them out of Dante's hell and into purgatory.

In 1984, a 30-year-old local news personality left Baltimore's WJZ-TV to try her hand at hosting a morning talk show in a bigger market, Chicago. Within a year, A.M. Chicago was renamed for its new host, and by 1986 it had begun national syndication. Today, The Oprah Winfrey Show marks its 20th anniversary, and its star is one of the most powerful women in the world, a 51-year-old media mogul and billionaire whose influence reaches into nearly every nook and cranny of contemporary life.

The public nature of Pope John Paul II's suffering - from the trembling of his hands brought on by Parkinson's disease to his final appearance at St. Peter's Square last week, when he tried tobut could not speak - was an extended lesson in the dignity and value of the lives of the most frail among us, theologians say. The pontiff did not hide his many ailments as he grew more infirm. Though his speech was slurred and his head often slumped to his chest because of the Parkinson's, he appeared in public frequently and rejected seclusion.

IN THE WAKE of the disaster in the Indian Ocean, something interesting has arisen: Commentators have turned to philosophical consideration of the bearing of such events on belief in God and in what kind of God can be reconciled with such events. In the political context of today's United States, it's hardly shocking to see issues of religion in the public dialogue and debate. But religion usually arises in the context of issues of fairness to various religious views, entanglements of law and religion or how often religious themes do or don't occur in contemporary entertainment.

Marijuana should be legalized for medicinal use because it provides many suffering patients relief that they do not get from other medications. Granted, there are serious possible side effects, including dependency and impairment of memory, concentration and motor coordination. However, many legally prescribed sedatives, painkillers, cough suppressants and tranquilizers have similar and other serious and undesirable effects. If unintended harmful effects are not reason enough to prohibit the use of codeine, morphine and other beneficial drugs, why should similar effects be reason to prohibit marijuana?

POOLESVILLE - Nam Gyal has work to do under the gaze of more than 1,000 Buddhas. The tall man in maroon robes takes his time in the still of night emptying 204 identical brass water bowls, one by one, into a plastic bucket - all the while praying, praying, praying. It is nearing 2 a.m., the beginning of a new day in an unbroken string of days: more than 19 years of nonstop prayer, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, conducted by members of Kunzang Palyul Choling, a Tibetan Buddhist temple in western Montgomery County.

WE HAVE HEARD much about torture since the 9/11 terrorist attacks - debates about the moral, legal and ethical reasons for and against using it to obtain information. More than 100 countries use torture, according to Amnesty International, and governments go to great lengths to hide it. The debates seem to be about concepts and the theoretical implications of using torture, and what other countries do, not what the United States does. Now we are faced with whether the U.S. government used torture.