Miss Raquel reaches a new low

[Sola]

She needs a wake up call. I know she is only 17(?), but honestly, she really is one of the most self absorbed 17 year olds that I have ever heard of.

[InkyGirl]

A young woman that graduated 2 years after me died tragically this past weekend in a car accident. She left behind a 3 month old baby boy who will never know his mama. It wasn't beautiful. It will never be viewed as beautiful. I'm a Christian and I don't see death as beautiful. Even when an older person who has been suffering passes in their sleep, it's not beautiful - it's releif, and release - not beautiful. The beautiful Mama who died this weekend at 24 years old, her death was non of that. It was a waste, a tragic happening, something that shook the tiny community in Michigan and left a little boy motherless. Raquel knows nothing.

[kpmom]

Miss Raquel has obviously never had to deal with true pain, heartache and tragedy. I'm not wishing it on her, but life has a way of giving us all of those things sooner or later. It can make a person either more compassionate or bitter. Which will be true of Miss Raquel?

[lilwriter85]

Miss Raquel has obviously never had to deal with true pain, heartache and tragedy. I'm not wishing it on her, but life has a way of giving us all of those things sooner or later. It can make a person either more compassionate or bitter. Which will be true of Miss Raquel?

I agree from that post it does show she hasn't really dealt with heartache or tragedy. The guy that died was just an acquaintance of hers. Maybe if he had been a close friend, she would reacted differently and maybe it would been a wake up call. When I was 14, one of my cousins who was my same age died due to complications after a surgery. A year later, one of my older brothers died. I learned to deal with tragedy and I never viewed their deaths as beautiful. My brother died a freak accident that involved a gun. I was a bitter for awhile after my brother died and I do think it made me more compassionate.

I also don't want to wish anything on Miss Raquel, but the reality is everyone will deal with tragedy at some point in their lives. A few years back I worked at a restaurant and one of my co-workers lost an aunt to breast cancer. The aunt was in her 40's and my co-worker's family had only been used to dealing with the deaths of elderly relatives. I remember my co-worker's mom took it really hard. Another thing I have noticed with a lot of families, one of the children dies before both of the parents die. There was 8 kids in on my mom's side. One of her siblings died really young and another sibling died a few years after my grandfather died. I've seen other families who end up in similar situations by the time both grandparents die.

[jenny_islander]

If Miss Raquel should buy the farm and start pushing up the daisies from six feet any time soon her "legacy" will include a blog demonstrating extraordinary selfishness and self-involvement. God's Daughter? Pshaw! Arrogant little twit.

She usually just bores me, but this particular post is just so insensitive to the young man who died and his family. I know she is young, but please include me in with the people who want to shake some sense into her sorry little ass. :evil:

Grow up Miss R. It is not all about you.

While I love that we basically have ansible service for the entire planet now, there are definitely drawbacks. When teenagers kept their diaries on pressed wood pulp storage devices without any connectivity features whatsoever, they could always burn the damn things when they were older and wiser and nobody would have to know what bumptious, self-absorbed, bloviating nitwits they had been. Likewise, when teens dispensed their ersatz wisdom in heads-together conversations in their own bedrooms, their naivete had a statute of limitations and a limited radius. Miss Raquel's archived online musings will be popping up in searches made 25 years from now by middle schoolers doing their homework in Singapore. All it takes is the right combination of keywords.

Hey, Miss Raquel--how's your horse? Yeah, he has his own social media page, whoopee. Does he have daily exercise, regular visits from the farrier and the vet, seasonal worming, clean water accessible at all times, and a proper diet? Are you learning how to tack, groom, clean up after, and ride him? If he gets pushy, can you make him back off? If he gets scared, can you stay aboard while he panics and get him back under control before he hurts himself and/or you?

[dairyfreelife]

This is the death I want to die – a beautiful death. And if I don’t, then my life wouldn’t have been worth living. If I do, then I can die with a smile on my lips, a happy heart…

I've never heard of a single person who died beautifully? What does that even mean? I can't think of a single person I know who has died that died beautifully. Let's see: Car accidents, cancer, old age, alzheimer's, suicide, murdered, OD, freak accident...nope, can't think of one. None of those were beautiful deaths. In fact most of them were horrible.

I saw my grandfather slowly perish when he was unable to recover after surgery on his lungs from lung cancer. It took him almost an entire month to die. He was a definitely a Christian and not to brag, but he left a legacy, a great one. This is man who suffered so much, a man who's father was killed in a train accident when he was just ten, leaving his mother to care for the remaining children at home, who was sent to Korea for the war just three months after marrying my grandmother. He had a metal given for saving someone's life that he did away, refusing to ever talk about the war and never eating rice again once home, not wanting a single reminder of something as horrible as war. This is man who lost his four-month-old daughter suddenly and tragically from an heart defect that does not occur anymore thanks to the mumps vaccine that protects pregnant women.

Raquel will likely never leave a legacy even close to someone like my grandfather. She'll never even come close to the legacy because I don't think she would be able to handle them. I know she's young, but I'm not sure how much she'll grow up honestly, not in the lifestyle she's in. She cries to her parents over someone mentioning she might have a crush. This girl could probably go into an area with extreme poverty and STILL only focus on herself and how wonderful she is to help those poor people and tell them the Gospel instead of giving them food and blankets and actually helping them, because, ya know, that's what Jesus would do.

ETA: I just reached Satan's number of posts. She reads this, will she think the post is cursed? ;)

[saraelise]

My father believed that people could only live on in the memories of those they left behind. His death wasn't beautiful, and there's nothing about it I want to exhalt.

Honestly, I had to leave that post before reading it all because it made me so angry. How can she make the death of an acquiantance all about her?

[CanadianHippie]

Oh. My. God...

When I was her age, a teacher at my school went missing while boating and his body was never found. He had been my teacher the year before. For weeks, every time I thought about what happened I couldn't get out of my head the emotional pain his family and close friend must have been going through. Not how I want to die or how people who believe differently don't get the same end as I do. For fuck's sake Raquel IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU! It's about those who have been affected by this death and how they are currently grieving over the loss of someone who meant so much to them. It's about their pain, not your desire for a "beautiful death".

[Witsec7]

The Rogue rages at this time of year, there is no beauty in the way that child died. Its my favorite river in the entire state, and every time I go out there to spend time on it I remind myself how dangerous it is.

[Elle]

My paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother have died within 6 months of each other, my grandmother unexpectedly. There's no such thing as beautiful death, and if she was any kind of Christian she would follow Jesus' example of weeping at the ugliness of death.

My dad's dad's parents died together. Freak tractor accident. Never got any real details other than he fell off, she rushed out to him, and they both were plowed over. As you can probably imagine, it's not the sort of thing anyone wants to talk about. I was less than a year old and don't remember it. This hard-woking, older couple dying tragically together isn't beautiful. A young person dying before living a full life isn't beautiful. Dying from tragedy or painful illness isn't beautiful.

The only death I ever heard about that was beautiful (as one of the surviving kids was quoted calling it) was a very old couple who died from natural causes within minutes of each other holding hands. Lived a full life, died peacefully together. Too bad this is rare enough that it made news when it happened.

[Elle]

I did the same thing. That part was really fucked up. The unbelievers and their loved ones do have hope and a lot of good atheists have left different legacies behind.

I'm a nonbeliever, and I don't hope, I know that my loved are "at peace," and they're not hurting, and they don't know any better. Sure, it's sad not seeing them again, but when I'm dead, I don't know any better either.

And legacy? What are fundies leaving behind but more mouths to feed off a planet that is reaching critical mass? Chances are it'll be an atheist that will discover the cures for cancers and what the hell to do about overpopulation. Nonbelievers have had major positive impacts on this world. That's a hell of a legacy. Leaving behind children who are good, living people who raise their children the same, and so one down the line, is a good legacy.

[Rowan]

Fuck her.

I've lost many close people in the last 8 years (father, uncle, aunt, both grandmothers, I can go on and on), none of them "beautifully." And a little more than 15 years ago, a friend died after falling under the ice on a frozen pond. He was out alone at night and wasn't found for several months. He was a little slow but the kindest, most giving and thoughtful person I've met in a long time. NOTHING is beautiful about drowning.

And whether you are a 'believer' or not has so little impact on the legacy you leave. Unless it's a hate-filled one like Fred Phelps and the like. I don't care right now that she's sheltered, naive, young; it doesn't matter - there is no excuse for her to be putting this shit online. I hope one day she is able to grow up enough to the point where she realizes what a self-absorbed snot she used to be. But I'm not holding my breath.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

Ever since I was little, I always wondered how I was going to die. Would I be in a car accident? Would I get thrown from a horse? Would I die slowly, from leukemia or cancer? Or perhaps I would die saving someone from drowning?

Well Raquel, here's my bet:

Is that the beautiful, easy death you imagined, idjit? :evil:

Grow up. Everybody wonders how they'll die but don't be so self-centered to think that it'll be some rosy, beautiful thing. You think it'll be nice for you to have your family around you but don't give a damn about how it is for them to watch you die.

Also, this stuff about your friend dying so good could reach other people pisses me off. WTF does that say about your god? He doesn't give a damned about the living and he'll willingly kill someone, horribly, in their prime just to get people to pay attention to him?

[tacky]

A combination of youthful ignorance and the crap she has had drummed into her head at church. Maybe some day she will know better.

My husband is dying. He has a rare form of cancer and, to make a long story short, has been given basically zero chance of survival. He's 43, we have three children, he IS a believer, and there is nothing beautiful about this. Nothing. When someone from the church tells me about God and his "will" and his "plan," I always give the same answer: "Spoken like someone who has never watched the person they love more than anything in the world suffer and die. You obviously have no idea what this feels like, because if you did you wouldn't be saying any of this to me."

On one hand people like Raquel make me angry, but more than anything I feel sorry for them. They're so locked up in their fundie shackles they aren't even allowed to feel real emotions. I don't know how THEY cope.

[Witsec7]

I will keep you in the light Tacky.

[tacky]

Thank you so much.

I should clarify that when I say believer, I mean he believes in God but is mostly a Buddhist, so that probably disqualifies him in Raquel's world anyway. He is at peace with this, doesn't really believe that death exists, transfer of energy, Buddhism, etc. Still, beauty is not a word I would ever associate with what is happening.

[Witsec7]

Thank you so much.

I should clarify that when I say believer, I mean he believes in God but is mostly a Buddhist, so that probably disqualifies him in Raquel's world anyway. He is at peace with this, doesn't really believe that death exists, transfer of energy, Buddhism, etc. Still, beauty is not a word I would ever associate with what is happening.

Ahh, I'm a Buddhist and have spent a bit of my life working with people transitioning. Feel free to pm me if you wish.

Go well and stay well.

[Maude]

My husband is dying. He has a rare form of cancer and, to make a long story short, has been given basically zero chance of survival. He's 43, we have three children, he IS a believer, and there is nothing beautiful about this. Nothing. When someone from the church tells me about God and his "will" and his "plan," I always give the same answer: "Spoken like someone who has never watched the person they love more than anything in the world suffer and die. You obviously have no idea what this feels like, because if you did you wouldn't be saying any of this to me."

So sorry about your husband, tacky. No one should have to suffer like that, and die so young. I bolded the last part of your post because it's just so true. A similar statement I hate is "There's a reason for everything." I know people typically mean well, but they don't realize just how insensitive their words are.

[browngrl]

Hi Tacky,

I am so sorry for what your family is going through. Sending you good wishes and kind thoughts.

[Rowan]

I am so sorry, Tacky. My thoughts go out to all of you.

[Burris]

I knew she was self-absorbed, but not this self-absorbed. Someone she sort of knew fell into a river and died.

http://www.starherald.com/news/nation_w ... 963f4.html

And she managed to make the whole fucking post about her. From how hard it has been on her (even though she barely knows him) to all the ways she imagined she will die to waxing poetically about how she wants to be remember as a wonderful person when she dies.

She even titled the blog post: Beautiful Death. :shock:

Someone needs to slap some sense into her.

http://god-sdaughter.blogspot.com/

Eh. She's a teenager, isn't she? Just coming into a full knowledge and recognition of her own mortality. I think that post was just her version of stepping back from the maw we all face when we first get - like, really get - that there is no escape from death.

[tacky]

I appreciate the thoughts, everyone. I don't want to make this post all about me, so please carry on snarking on Raquel.

[Elle]

A combination of youthful ignorance and the crap she has had drummed into her head at church. Maybe some day she will know better.

My husband is dying. He has a rare form of cancer and, to make a long story short, has been given basically zero chance of survival. He's 43, we have three children, he IS a believer, and there is nothing beautiful about this. Nothing. When someone from the church tells me about God and his "will" and his "plan," I always give the same answer: "Spoken like someone who has never watched the person they love more than anything in the world suffer and die. You obviously have no idea what this feels like, because if you did you wouldn't be saying any of this to me."

On one hand people like Raquel make me angry, but more than anything I feel sorry for them. They're so locked up in their fundie shackles they aren't even allowed to feel real emotions. I don't know how THEY cope.

I am so sorry. Hugs to you.

[lilwriter85]

I'm sorry about your husband tacky.

[BoomerLynn]

While I love that we basically have ansible service for the entire planet now, there are definitely drawbacks. When teenagers kept their diaries on pressed wood pulp storage devices without any connectivity features whatsoever, they could always burn the damn things when they were older and wiser and nobody would have to know what bumptious, self-absorbed, bloviating nitwits they had been. Likewise, when teens dispensed their ersatz wisdom in heads-together conversations in their own bedrooms, their naivete had a statute of limitations and a limited radius. Miss Raquel's archived online musings will be popping up in searches made 25 years from now by middle schoolers doing their homework in Singapore. All it takes is the right combination of keywords.

Hey, Miss Raquel--how's your horse? Yeah, he has his own social media page, whoopee. Does he have daily exercise, regular visits from the farrier and the vet, seasonal worming, clean water accessible at all times, and a proper diet? Are you learning how to tack, groom, clean up after, and ride him? If he gets pushy, can you make him back off? If he gets scared, can you stay aboard while he panics and get him back under control before he hurts himself and/or you?

If you scroll down a bit on her blog there is a link to a youtube video of her riding him. Tacky I am so sorry about your husband. My thoughts and prayers are with your family.