Unnatural Death?

This time I'll give you pictures from my trip to Helsinki in early December (it's me in the last pic!), and some talk about death and old age, as it has been much in my mind lately because of my grand parents. I know my opinions are not to everyone's liking, but this is me being honest, and I definitely don't want to make everyone to think the same way either (:

I feel like in this modern culture the naturalness of the death has been forgotten. Surrounded by all these pills, medicines and machines the death is the unnatural thing that comes when you haven't treated someone well, long or strongly enough. I would never want to have a machine controlling my life or death, or even see a loved one get to that stage, because I don't think it is really life - at least not life worth living for. I know many don't agree with me, but I'm not ashamed of my opinion: when the time has come to someone, you should be able to let go. When someone can't recognise their friends and family anymore, or talk or think understandably, it doesn't matter much if the body is healthy. A relative of mine said this about my grandfather who has Alzheimer's disease: his soul (I would say mind) has gone in advance, but the body is strong and still hanging on here. You can't have any rational answers to even normal daily questions from a person in that stage, so who and how is in the position of deciding if the person still wants to live that way. I don't mean euthanasia here (that I agree with totally depending on the case), but that if an old person, whose mind isn't working anymore, has let's say a heart attack, I would think twice before trying to bring them back to life.

(Just to not have any misunderstandings: all this what I'm writing obviously only applies to someone, who's mentally not well for old age or some disease for example. So I'm not telling to kill every old person there is.)

The difficult question must be, who is to decide when someone's life is not worth living anymore. Even fully healthy people have very different points of view about "life worth living", so who's going to decide for those who can't have any rational opinions about anything anymore, or who can't express those opinions. I definitely don't have any answers to how to tell when the life isn't living anymore, I just think that when it gets there, it might be better not to live.

I always try to think my life and decisions by the golden rule ("Do to others what you would like them to do to you, and don't do anything you wouldn't like to be done to yourself."), and I do so concerning death and euthanasia also. Directly speaking, I would like to go quickly without years of suffering in the old age. Of course I would love to live to be an old lady, but only if I would be in good shape mentally and physically at that time too. And I highly recommend applying the golden rule to everyone, because that suddenly might make decisions easier and more logical, even though sometimes it is hard when there are too many points of view (:

I once read about some native tribe somewhere (well that sounds reliable :D) that used to send their elders in a canoe to the river to die when they either for the age of their mind or body could not participate in normal life anymore. According to their believes, this was the way they saved their people from the suffering of the old age, and from the shame of not being able to function normally. Death was not scary or unnatural, but something inescapable, and if I remember well, the ceremony had a positive  atmosphere unlike the sad funerals of today. It was celebrated that the soul is free now and the body isn't suffering anymore. Let everyone think what they like, but I would rather chose this destiny than lying in a hospital, nursing home or even at home extending the suffering.


I'll post more pictures tomorrow with no writing just to catch up with more recent pics!

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Day One of the Hike

At last here we are: able to tell about our hiking trip to the National Park of Pyhä-Luosto in northern Finland. That is because I downloaded the free 30 day's trial of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, and I have to say I fell in love with it. With no doubt it is the best functioning photo editing program I have tried.


I cannot describe enough how amazing all the journey was for me. Being in the middle of something so beautiful and powerful at the same time, surrounded by pure nature and clean air. We started at midday and hiked about 15-20 kilometers (as it seems we took some shortcut in some point and are not sure how much it shortened our journey) before staying the night in a tent. I was absolutely fascinated by everything I saw during the day: little arrows flowing so bright, fallen trees that having been taken over by plants again, rough places under the most beautiful sky.

When we made our camp near a fire making place, we soon noticed we had taken too much stuff with us, but as first timers it was difficult to know what would we really need or how much food would we consume and all other little things we might or might not use. The next time we will not take a tent with us either, as there are these "abandoned houses" by almost all hiking trails in Lapland.

I could just be and walk deep in the mother nature for days. It is calming, relaxing and scientifically proved to for example reduce stress levels and improve your immunity system and concentration. I really need to live in nature when we settle down, and luckily I'm not alone with that thought (:

I'd like the next hike to be a little longer, and to go to the National Park of Lemmenjoki then, because I saw some incredible pictures of it recently, and was told that it is full of geological phenomena because of the ice age.

So this was it today, in the next two posts I'll show the rest of the pictures, and maybe with some more excited words :D

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Question!

We got some taste of a materially independent life the other day, when we went fishing and prepared and ate the fish we got for lunch.

Fishing just for the fun of it has started to feel cruel for me. What right does anyone have to have fun or, even worse, relax by making other living creatures to suffer or kill some - even if they are just fish? (Not to mention the worms, but I have to admit that the fish have the most of my sympathy.) I also admit having done it when I was younger, but at the time it was normal and encouraged, as other people around me were fishing just for fun. The example of them made me think this is something natural and fun. Also I wanted to show everyone that I am as tough as the boys and can get my own worms and it's not grouse to touch a fish, but that's not my point now (;

I can think of many things people seem to do only for habit, for culture or for not questioning it (often for all of those). As a horse girl, one of the first things pops in my mind is the using of riding crop: as a child my riding teacher told me to hit the horse with the crop if the horse went too slow. Nowadays I would never hit an animal just because it isn't doing what I want it to, but at that time it was truism. But if the coach says so and everyone else is doing it anyway, it's no big deal, right?

A common acceptance of something lowers the chances for it to be questioned or changed, or that's what I believe. Outside the horses for example violence can be transmitted from the environment to children, if they have seen their parents fighting everyday. For them it's something natural, even though violence shouldn't be natural to anyone. I'm sure everyone can think of bad things that used to happen just because: slave trade, gladiator fights, oppressing women... the list is endless.

Questioning is good for anyone, even though it would be something little from everyday life - it's not always necessary to think about wars and famines. And it shouldn't be scared either, because if something is good and right, questioning it would just make you realize that. But it also needs some courage, because if and when you find something you did not want to see or admit before, it needs the courage to be able to make a change. I  think it was Platon or Aristoteles who said that to be able to know something for sure, you have to start by questioning everything, also the things you think you already know.

What would happen if you questioned a habit, relationship or opinion in your life that is obvious for you? If you are afraid of what you might find, then you shouldn't start before you're ready to open your eyes.

P.S. We also went picking blueberries the other day, that's in the pictures below. And tomorrow we'll go to pick mushrooms with my aunt - I feel like a hillbilly :D

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Nature in My Home

As I wrote yesterday, we ran into some reindeer one day on our way to buy some milk, and here is what happened when I got my camera from home. (It feels so good to be able to call this home! We moved one week and one day ago.)

I thought how interesting it is that nature can be so close and overlapping with a city. Then I thought that everyone should stop and ask themselves: where goes the line between "nature" and "human"? Aren't we part of the nature? I insist that the human itself is already a part of the nature, as we are just as animals as any other mammal. Then why is it that something made by humans is not considered nature? You can easily say the park near your house or even your own backyard or garden is nature, but not many would perceive their living room as a part of the nature. But still almost everything in the room might actually come from nature, for example wood in the furniture or the stonewalls.

Maybe the problems with nature and respecting it that people have today are partly because it isn't seen as something you live in. You can go there for a trip, but it doesn't go home with you. If you realized nature is your home and your home is nature, maybe you would treat it better.

P.S. The street name "Porokatu" means literally "The Street of the Reindeer". I wonder where it got its name (;

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Connection

I went to see my rent-mare today, because she needs to be walked 30 minutes a day now that her leg is recovering. I experienced a wonderful connection, when for the first time I was able to do something different with a horse. By something different I mean just being with a horse, without any goals at the moment. So we were walking around and I decided to try what happened if I let her loose. The moment I realised she is actually following me, stopping when I stop and showing affection was amazingly shivering and full of happiness. Then after a while we were interrupted and the connection was lost, but I was left with a thrilling positivity and hope for having been able to be with a horse in that state of connection. This is what I want to experience every day with a horse of my own some day, not only aim for success or goals with them.

This time O took these pics, but he gave me his rights for them (:

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From the depths of the computer

I was going through some old photos today, and I found many more or less old good ones that deserve being published here.

Today I have also refreshed my memory about an ancient Indian medicine, Ayurveda, and done this "what kind of person you are" test to some of my friends. I can't figure out, why the occidental and natural medicines have to be at war with each other. Many natural medicines concentrate more in finding a balance in the mind, body and between them, and in prevention of illness instead of healing anything - though there are plenty of different kinds of treatments also, some more acknowledged than others. I myself for example have seen the effects of acupuncture and treating certain spots in a body, because it helped my mum a big deal with her allergies. But I have to admit that there are some treatments that sound at least suspicious (I wouldn't drink my own urine just to feel better in everyday life), but everyone should have their opinions. I would see the answer as mixing the occidental and natural medicines: I wouldn't trust any healing stones when I get sick, but to increase my healthiness and the "balance" I would be ready to follow for example this Ayurveda logic in the limits of common sense.

And now we get to the pictures that have nothing to do with my thoughts up there! With the two first ones I won a photography competition at my school last year, and all of the three were taken in my school's spanish group's trip to Madrid in autumn 2011.

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