text:
thumb|right|200px|Belgian politician and lawyer BASILE-JEAN RISOPOULOS, (27 October 1919 – 5 May 1997)[1] was a Belgian lawyer and politician who served in the Belgian senate from 1968 to 1974.[2]

Early life

Basile-Jean Risopoulos was born on 27 October 1919 in Schaerbeek to a modest family. His father was Greek and his mother was Belgian. His brother, Stéphane, became an Agricultural engineer after his studies at Gembloux. In 1954, Risopolous married Francine Willems, a Belgian lawyer. They had two children; Sylvie, who became Administrative Director at the French Community Commission, and André, a criminal lawyer.[3]

Basile-Jean Risopoulos studied at the official school on boulevard Clovis and at the Atheneum of Schaerbeek. Risopoulos attended the Université libre de Bruxelles, where he was a double major in history and law. It was here where he became interested in politics, joining the Liberal Party and becoming the president of the young liberals of Schaerbeek at age 19.[4]

From 1940 to 1942, Risopoulos became a secondary school teacher in history and geography at the Athénée de Saint-Gilles.[5]

During the Second world war, he received his diploma in history and his doctorate in law. He took the lawyer's oath, but did not immediately start his legal career.[6]

In 1942, Risopoulos entered the Secret Army before being arrested by German authorities. He spent seven months in Saint-Giles Prison before being sent to Merksplas where he escaped, becoming a fugitive.[7]

Toward the end of the war, Risopoulos traveled to Scotland where he received training to become a Commando in the British Army.[8] In 1945, he participated in the Baltic Offensive, and the liberation of several Nazi concentration camps.[9]

Career

Legal career

After five months in Germany, Risopoulos continued his legal career, working as an intern with the Brussels bar association and beginning a position with the Ministry of Reconstruction, where he began his career as a lawyer.[10] He served as president of the Young Bar Association from 1961 to 1962 and as secretary of the Belgian Bar Association from 1963 to 1965.[11]

Career in politics

Risopoulos continued his job as a lawyer while pursuing a career as a politician. In January 1965 he became a delegate to the Liberal Party's convention in Liege and later served on the Commission for Improvement of Community Relations (Meyers Commission).[12]

In reaction to the growing Flemish nationalist movement, Risopoulos stood up for liberal views, advocating for bilingualism and defending the rights of Francophones in Flanders.[13]

In 1968, the Walen buiten affair at the Université de Louvain led to the end of the PSC/PLPcoalition government and created a political division where political parties were based on linguistic differences.[14] De ce fait, Basile-Jean Risopoulos entre dans les “groupe des 28” afin de préparer la réforme de l'État belge.[15]

From 1968 to 1974, Risopoulos served in the Senate as a member from the Province of Brabant.[16] From 1974 to 1976 he was the President of the Liberal Party's Brussels division and a participant in the Senate debates on Belgian federalism until 1977. He was later elected to the Chamber of Representatives, where he served from 1977 to 1985.[17] Risopoulos later founded Rassemblement bruxellois with François Persoons, Lucine Outers, André Lagasse, et Antoinnette Spaak with the goal to defend and protect the rights of francophones in the Brussels Region.

In 1978, Risopoulos rejoined the Francophone Democratic Federalists[18] because, according to him, the other parties had not done enough to prevent the rise of Flemish Nationalist movements.[19]

From 1986 to 1989, he served as president of the first Brussels Regional Council as well as the Vice President to the Prime Minister of the French Community Commission and an échevin for the City of Brussels.[20] From 1994 to 1997 he took part in the community management of Ixelles, where he became the échevin for Finance, Personnel and Litigation.[21]

Other roles

During his career, Risopoulos was a patron of performance art, following the work of the Mudra Ballet school, and the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. He was also an active card player, playing with the Maison de la Belote. In 1983, he founded a branch of the Richelieu Club in Brussels. The club serves to defend French culture and language.[22]

From 1971 to 1975, in addition to his legal and political positions, he served as Vice President for the administrative council of Université libre de Bruxelles,[23] President of the Maison de la Francité as well as a member of the AFAL (Francophone Association of Friendship and Liaison).[24]

[1] P. Van Molle, _Le Parlement belge 1894–1969_, Gand, Ledeberg, 1969, .

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[21] Archives de la Commune D'Ixelles, “Ixelles votre commune”, XL, 1996, .

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title: Basile-Jean Risopoulos

question: Who was Basile-Jean Risopoulos?

answer: Basile-Jean Risopoulos is a Belgian politician and lawyer who served in the Belgian Senate from 1968 to 1974.

question: What was Risopoulos's first job after he left university?

answer: He became a secondary school teacher of history and geography at the Athénée de Saint-Gilles.

question: What did Basile-Jean Risopoulos do during World War 2?

answer: He enlisted into the army but was captured by the Germans. After seven months in prison, he escaped and became a fugitive.

question: What job did Risopoulos hold immediately after the World War?

answer: He continued being a lawyer while pursuing a career as a politician.

question: Write a ~6 sentence summary.

answer:
Basile-Jean Risopoulos is a Belgian politician and lawyer who served in the Belgian Senate for six years.

Basile-Jean Risopoulosstudeis at the official school on boulevard Clovis and at the Artheneum of Schaerbeek. From 1940 to 1942, Basile-Jean Risopoulos was a school teacher in history and geography. However, when World War 2 broke out, he enlisted as a member of the Secret Army.

Basile-Jean Risopoulos was captured by the Germans while was imprisoned for seven months before his escape.

After the war, Basile-Jean Risopoulos continued his law practice while pursuing a career as a politician.


split: test

text:
RESPONSIBILITY ASSUMPTION is the doctrine that an individual has substantial or total responsibility for the events and circumstances that befall them in their personal life, to a considerably greater degree than is normally thought. Strong adherents of responsibility assumption consider that whatever situation they find themselves in, their own past desires and choices must have led to that outcome.

The term “responsibility assumption” has a specialized meaning beyond the general concept of taking responsibility for something, and is not to be confused with the general notion of making an assumption that a concept such as “responsibility” exists. In particular the general use of the term “responsibility” in everyday life and the legal field in particular is about assigning or apportioning blame for an event; responsibility assumption suggests a greater ability to affect the future.

Variations in degree of personal responsibility postulated

The main variable within various interpretations of the responsibility assumption doctrine is the degree to which the individual is considered the cause of his or her own experience, ranging from partial but substantial to total responsibility.

Partial but substantial responsibility

In its forms positing less than total responsibility, the doctrine appears in nearly all motivational programs, some psychotherapy, and large group awareness training programs. In programs as non-controversial as books on the power of positive thinking, it functions as a mechanism to point out that each individual does affect the perceived world by the decisions they make each day and by the choices they made in the past. These less absolute forms may be expressed within the rubric that we cannot control the situations that befall us, but we can at least control our attitudes toward them.

Total responsibility

In its more absolute form, the doctrine becomes both more pronounced and more controversial. Perhaps the most prominent dividing line of controversy is the threshold of reversed mental causation, where sufficient responsibility is assigned to the individual that their thoughts or mental attitudes are considered the actual cause of external situations or physical occurrences rather than vice versa, along the lines of the catchphrase, “mind over matter”. Detractors of this absolutist interpretation view this as victim blaming, whereas proponents view it as victim-empowering.

Religious and philosophical roots and usage

The _est_ seminars popularized the doctrine “responsibility assumption” in the 1970s although they did not explicitly use the term. The doctrine both predates est and is found in a far wider variety of settings. The doctrine has spiritual roots in the monism of Eastern religious traditions which hold that only one true being exists, and all people are one with each other and with god and hence possess Godlike powers, though they are often unaware of it. It has been likened to karma, which however tends to suggest later retribution for earlier acts, while responsibility assumption posits more of an immediate link between the experience desired and the outcome received. The doctrine also has associations with the neoplatonist notion of an illusory world, which the doctrine's adherents would phrase more precisely as an illusion of external worldly effects on inner mental states. It finds further support in philosophical idealism, which posits thought as the one true substance.

Among historically Christian churches, denominations have belief systems that incorporate doctrinal elements similar to responsibility assumption. The doctrine can be found in the work of psychotherapist Georg Groddeck assigning mental causes to physical ailments, has been more recently propagated by self-help authors such as Arnold Patent, and can be found in a number of New Age and new religious movements. Prominent among these are Christian Science and the New Thought Movement, whose constituent theologies espouse mental approaches to bodily healing and express precepts such as, “to each, according to his belief.” The doctrine combined with reversed causation can further be found explicitly expressed in works such as _A Course in Miracles_.

In popular culture

The theme of responsibility assumption appears in several places in popular culture. For example, it appeared in Richard Bach's bestseller, _Jonathan Livingston Seagull_, and Bach addressed the topic more directly in a less-popular later book, _Illusions_.

John Denver, a proponent of _est_ Erhard Seminars Training, wrote two songs about it, “Farewell Andromeda” (1973) and “Looking for Space” (1975); the opening lines of “Farewell Andromeda” capture the essence of responsibility assumption:

    _Welcome to my morning, welcome to my day_
    _I'm the one responsible, I made it just this way_
    _To make myself some pictures, see what they might bring_
    _I think I made it perfectly, I wouldn't change a thing_

The 1956 movie _Forbidden Planet_ featured an analogous concept to responsibility assumption, about a race who, through technology, became able to materialize their thoughts, to disastrous ends and chose to die out (cf. above, on the willing victims of the Holocaust).

The 1967 television series _The Prisoner_ featured an ambiguous climax spawning several interpretations, one of which implicates responsibility assumption. Throughout the short 17-episode series, the eponymous prisoner, a man held against his will by a mysterious group, attempted to determine — and in the final episode apparently succeeded in determining — the identity of the mysterious person who led the group and ultimately determined the prisoner's fate. The moment when the mysterious leader was literally unmasked by the prisoner was brief and unclear, but there are fans of the series who believe the leader was the prisoner himself.

In 1962, the comic book superhero Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee, adopted the maxim, “With great power there must also come great responsibility” after his refusal to stop a thief led to the death of his Uncle Ben. The phrase has come into common usage as, “With great power comes great responsibility” and was used as the tagline for the 2002 _Spider-Man_ movie.

In a deleted scene from the 1999 movie _Dogma_, a fallen angel explained how the subconscious of the damned demands that they be punished, as they believed God could never forgive their sins, remade the face of Hell from a simple separation from God into a “suffering pit.”

In the spiritual Carlos Castaneda's book _Journey to Ixtlan_ that was released in 1972 there is a chapter “Assume Responsibility.”

Though these are prominent examples, varying degrees of the doctrine of responsibility assumption have formed a minor theme more broadly in the United States cultural landscape since the 1960s counterculture.

More generally, cultures place different weight on individual responsibility and that this difference is manifested in folklore. In this view, the tale of the Fisherman and the Little Goldfish (in which the protagonist makes little effort to improve his lot) illustrates the denial of responsibility. In the late 20th century US, the best-selling didactic and allegorical fable _Who Moved My Cheese?_ underscored personal responsibility for one's livelihood and thus well-being.

title: Responsibility assumption

question: Summarize the meaning of responsibility assumption and various variables of the doctrine.

answer:
Responsibility assumption is a doctrine that states that people do have a large amount of responsibility for events or situations that happen to them. There are a few types of responsibility assumption, but the differences between them is mainly a matter of degree.
There is partial but substantial responsibility that is present in a lot of motivational programs and awareness training programs. This type of responsibility assumption states that people cannot control events that befall them but they can at least control how they respond. Another type of responsibility assumption is that of total responsibility here respo0nsbilty assumption is more absolute. It states that whatever happens to people is the result of their past choices. Some view this as victim-blaming while some see it as victim empowering.

question: Give examples of responsibility assumption as presented in popular culture.

answer:
The doctrine of responsibility assump[tion appears in many places in popular culture. The movie Forbidden Planet featured a race that used technology to materialize their thoughts, to a disastrous consequence which led them to dying out. Another example of responsibility assumption can be found in Richard Bach's books: Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions. John Denver also wrote two songs about it - farewell Andromeda (1973) and Looking for Space (1975). The opening lines of Farewell Andromeda go like this:
"Welcome to my morning, welcome to my day
I'm the one responsible, I made it just this way
To make myself some pictures, see what they might bring
I think I made it perfectly, I wouldn't change a thing".

question: Explain the toxic consequences of partial responsibility.


text:
People send me stuff. In my email this past week I got a cover photo of the June 2010 issue of National Geographic along with this message from Al in Georgia:

[]_I was at the Doctor’s office and picked up the following magazine in the waiting room.  National Geographic June 2010 issue entitled GREENLAND GROUND ZERO FOR GLOBAL WARMING._

_The Table of Contents_

1.  _Melt Zone There’s a meltdown on the ice sheet—and optimism among Greenlanders._
2.  _Viking Weather The warming climate that enticed Erik the Red is returning._

_Now how can you claim that on the one hand we created the current warming trend and on the other hand admit that there was a time when the climate was much warmer than today.  In fact, use that history as a means of suggesting how things might look as we humans warm the planet to temperatures never seen except during the time of Erik the terrible.  What a riot!_

Indeed. The email circulated, and that prompted this famous photo being posted:

[]

Meltwater stream flowing into a large moulin in the ablation zone (area below the equilibrium line) of the Greenland ice sheet. (Image courtesy Roger J. Braithwaite, The University of Manchester, UK via GISS)

Of course images like this one at left showing water tumbling down a huge moulin are being held up with gloom and doom scenarios that say Greenland’s Ice is melting “faster than expected” and we’ll get six feet of sea level rise from it along with a 10-15°F temperature rise by the year 2100.

Perhaps. But, moulins have existed since Greenland had ice, they are just part of the natural landscape and processes. They aren’t “new” to our time.

One of the photos we don’t often get to see was also circulated in the email, by somebody who lives in Greenland and knows what this is really all about.

It’s a real eye opener:

[]

Image from National Geographic online slide show - Photo: James Balog - click for more

He writes:

  In the winter a huge among of snow are accumulated on the Ice (2-3 meters, sometimes more) and we are not talking about 1 or 2 square-miles, it’s about 100.000’s of square miles (up to 1 million) on the Westside of the Ice cap and a similar picture on the Eastside… when the melting season starts in april-sep… the meltwater has to go somewhere, and for sure it goes downhill in huge meltwater rivers.

  THE BLACK STUFF ON THE BOTTOM OF THE LAKES IS CARBON DUST AND POLLUTION IN GENERAL… BUT NOT FROM ONE YEAR, BUT SEVERAL DECADES (THE TOPOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS DON’T CHANGE FROM YEAR TO YEAR). ON A FLIGHT OVER THE ICE CAP A SKY CLEAR DAY, YOU CAN SEE HUNDREDS OF HUGE LAKES WITH THE BLACK SPOT ON THE BOTTOM.

  Here in Kangerlussuaq, on the edge of the Ice Cap, we have several burst from edge-lake, all the water (millions of tonnes) in the river passing through the settlement in a day or two.

  The Vikings (Eric the Red) is about Medieval warm period…. the Hockey-stick mystery!!!

  Med venlig hilsen

  Svend Erik Hendriksen

And in that same Nat Geo collection that the photo above came from, you can see this photo also:

[]

From National Geographic: At the bottom of an ice canyon, cryoconite—fine brown and black dust carried by wind—spatters the edges of sutured crevasses, places where meltwater flooded massive cracks in the ice and then froze. Photo: James Balog

No mention in that Nat Geo slideshow of the origin of cryoconite, but I did find this at Portland State University by Jonathan Ebnet:

CRYOCONITE HOLES

Cryoconite holes are water filled holes caused by increased melting around sediment.  Cryoconite holes are common on the surfaces of glaciers in polar and non-polar regions (in polar regions, cryoconite holes have an ice lid, while in non-polar regions, cryoconite holes are open to the atmosphere).  Cryoconite holes are not limited to glaciers.  Cryoconite holes are also found on lake ice and sea ice.  I will investigate whether sediment is required to initiate melt in the subsurface of a glacier, or whether absorption of solar radiation by clean ice is only needed to allow melting to occur.  Previous studies have shown that some cryoconite holes are interconnected by cracks within the ice, while the remainder are isolated.  These cracks appear to be the means by which the subsurface melt exits the glaciers, discharges into the melt-water streams, and empties into the perennially ice-covered lakes.

[]

Cryoconite holes located on the surface of a glacier in the dry valleys

[]

Cross-section of a cryoconite hole in a polar glacier

There is this time lapse animation showing how a hole changes with some solar insolation (warning – huge file, may take several minutes to download)

Click on the image below to view the evolution of two cryoconite holes over a 41 hour period.  Watch how quickly the sediment melts down into the ice, and how fast the hole ices over.  The movie will show the ice lid thickening and the hole filling up with air, half way through the movie (visible as the hole becoming lighter in color).

[]

Now the really interesting thing about all this cryoconite or black dust and soot is that it tends to accumulate and stay there, continuing to help with melting daily. If the holes are interconnected with cracks through which meltwater flows, then they’ll continue until such time that the hole gets so deep that no sunlight reaches the bottom.

I’m remined of a simple experiment that Mike Smith carried out in his backyard one winter.

THIS FROM BRETT ANDERSON’S ACCUWEATHER GLOBAL WARMING BLOG LAST YEAR:

Here is a photo of fresh snow cover in my backyard over which I had tossed some eight month-old fireplace ash under a totally blue sky

[]

Keeping in mind this demonstration is occurring just two days after the winter solstice (meaning the albedo effect is less than it would have been under clear skies in February or March), in just one hour, the greater melting in the ash-covered areas is already apparent:

[]

After four hours, the ash-free area has a depth of 5.5 inches

[]

At the same time, the ash-covered areas have a depth of about 2.5 inches. Multiple measurements were taken (note ruler hold about an inch in front of ruler) which yielded an average depth of 2.5 inches.

[]

The areas without soot melt about 0.5 inches of snow during this 4-hour period while the soot-covered areas melt 3.5 inches.

For visual comparison purposes, note the ruler hole in the non-ash-covered snow above the shadow.

[]

Even tiny amounts of soot pollution can induce high amounts of melting. There is little or no ash at upper right.. Small amounts of ash in the lower and left areas of the photo cause significant melting at the two-hour mark in the demonstration.

[]

Any discussion pertaining to melting glaciers or icecaps must consider the accelerated melting caused by soot pollution in addition to any contribution from changing ambient temperatures.

Photos: Copyright 2007, Michael R. Smith (used with permission)

Mike Smith is CEO of WeatherData Services, Inc., An AccuWeather Company. Smith is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and a Certified Consulting Meteorologist.

So yes, it does look like man made melting in Greenland, but not from CO2, but rather from soot. Since the USA has tough laws against particulate emissions, I’m wondering if we shouldn’t be pointing the finger at China and asking them to adopt clean air standard rather than worrying about California’s idiotic ~~Prop~~ AB 32 “global warming law”:

[]

Note that this is just a snapshot of the atmosphere, it doesn’t show where the soot ends up, but as you can see, it does reach the latitude of Greenland.

Some science has already been done on it, emphasis mine:

========================================================

20TH-CENTURY INDUSTRIAL BLACK CARBON EMISSIONS ALTERED ARCTIC CLIMATE FORCING

Joseph R. McConnell,1* Ross Edwards,¹ Gregory L. Kok,² Mark G. Flanner,³ Charles S. Zender,³ Eric S. Saltzman,³ J. Ryan Banta,¹ Daniel R. Pasteris,¹ Megan M. Carter,⁴ Jonathan D. W. Kahl⁴

Black carbon (BC) from biomass and fossil fuel combustion alters chemical and physical properties of the atmosphere and snow albedo, yet little is known about its emission or deposition histories. Measurements of BC, vanillic acid, and non–sea-salt sulfur in ice cores indicate that sources and concentrations of BC in Greenland precipitation varied greatly since 1788 as a result of boreal forest fires and industrial activities. Beginning about 1850, industrial emissions resulted in a sevenfold increase in ice-core BC concentrations, with most change occurring in winter. BC concentrations after about 1951 were lower but increasing. AT ITS MAXIMUM FROM 1906 TO 1910, ESTIMATED SURFACE CLIMATE FORCING IN EARLY SUMMER FROM BC IN ARCTIC SNOW WAS ABOUT 3 WATTS PER SQUARE METER, WHICH IS EIGHT TIMES THE TYPICAL PREINDUSTRIAL FORCING VALUE.

¹ Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education, Reno, NV 89512, USA.

² Droplet Measurement Technologies, Boulder, CO 80301, USA.

³ Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.

⁴ Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Joe.McConnell@dri.edu

==========================================================

So when you see alarming stories of Greenland meltwater, remember: s_oot is more powerful at melting snow and ice than CO2._

__ h/t to Steve from Oregon__

_Juraj V. adds in comments the Greenland Temperature record:_

[https://i2.wp.com/climexp.knmi.nl/data/icrutem3_300-340E_55-85N_na.png?w=700]

question: What does the text say about fracking?

question: What does the text say about the primary reason for Greenland's melting ice sheet and the misconceptions about what is really happening?

answer: Greenland’s Ice is melting “faster than expected” and sea levels are expected to rise six feet, accompanied by a 10-15°F rise in temperature by the year 2100. The melting ice sheet is often attributed to man-made CO2 emissions that have brought about the rise in the world's ambient temperature, or Global Warming. However, the article's author says this is not the only factor and points out another man-made culprit: soot pollution. Even tiny amounts of soot pollution can cause high amounts of melting, as shown in Brett Anderson's home experiment where he tossed old fireplace ash on fresh snow and the ash-covered areas melted faster. To prove that soot pollution accelerates melting in Greenland's ice sheet, the author mentions that the black stuff that accumulates at the bottom of lakes and meltwater rivers is cryoconite or decades of carbon dust and pollution carried by the wind.

question: What does the text say about cryoconite and cryoconite holes?

answer: Cryoconite is fine brown and black dust carried by the wind found at the bottom of meltwater rivers and lakes that are believed to be one of the causes for Greenland's melting ice sheet. Cryoconite holes are water-filled holes caused by increased melting around sediment, common on the surfaces of glaciers in polar and non-polar regions. In polar regions, cryoconite holes have an ice lid, while in non-polar regions, these are open to the atmosphere. Cryoconite holes are not limited to glaciers and are also found on lake ice and sea ice. Previous studies have shown that some cryoconite holes are interconnected by cracks within the ice, while the rest are isolated. This seems to be the means by which the subsurface melt exists the glaciers, discharges into the melt-water streams, and empties into the perennially ice-covered lakes.


text:
“Huva!, Huva!, Huva!” the people chanted on the street. The palace illuminated in grandeur as night fell in Centras City. King Murlis Damion had starved the Western Isles and the people were in dissent.
	Jor stood outside the Black Locust Inn staring at a whole company of guardsmen standing tall outside the inn, ready to attack the hundreds of protesters that were meeting there.
	“Jor, ready Mathas and his militia for battle!” Himdar yelled from the inn’s door.
	Jor turned and looked at him, “Battle, we’ve hardly mustered enough men to defend ourselves!” Jor yelled in a condescending tone, “Look in front of you there are nearly a thousand of the king’s men ready to slay us at any point” Jor added.
	The shouts and chants of the people was overbearing and loud, “Take it up with Cerlin, i’m only following orders!” Himdar shouted.
	Jor grunted and ran inside the tall, dark inn, “Cerlin are you out of your mind!” Jor said confronting the old war general.
	Cerlin stood up and met Jor face to face, “We need to fight back, give the king a taste of battle!” Cerlin Chuckled, “He’s no more than a green boy who’s never seen the destruction of war!” Cerlin shouted.
	Jor was shocked, “They’ll slay us, we’ve no more than green men as well!” Jor shouted.
	“Well at least they’re fighting for something!” Cerlin shouted, raising his tone.
	“And what are you fighting for Cerlin? A deluded dream of endless victories!?” Jor retaliated.
Cerlin smacked Jor in the face. Jor fell to the ground, “Ready Mathas, now!” Cerlin said grimly.
Jor got up and left the inn, “Mathas? Mathas!” Jor screamed.
“Damn you, attack!” someone shouted.
Jor looked at the guardsmen, they were thrusting their pikes into the protesters. They tried to fight back but there was only blood and the endless screams, “Jor. what happened!?” Mathas said running to Jor from behind the inn.
Jor looked at Mathas, “They’ve attacked us. Ready the militia!” Jor yelled.
Mathas nodded and ran to rally his men
Cerlin ran outside and unsheathed his sword, “Let’s go Jor, let’s show these green bastards a real battle!” he said charging with the militia.
Jor charged in with nothing but a small obsidian knife. He killed man after man, soldier after soldier for what seemed like hours. At midnight the battle was failing for the militia, hundreds were wounded.
Cerlis had been stabbed in the heart and was bleeding out, “May the divination make you divine” Jor said praying over the body in front of the inn. The fighting was continuing behind him and he was exhausted.
“Jor, we have to go now!” Mathas said mounting a large black horse.
Jor looked up at him and smiled, “I can’t leave, everything i have is here!” Jor shouted to Mathas.
Mathas cocked his head back and returned his eyes to the gates of the city, “Suit yourself, good luck friend.” Mathas rode off to the bright gates.
Jor rose up and burst into the inn. He and a few militia pulled out a map from the bottom of the bar, it was a map of the city. Jor, Thomas Dukeroy, Alexander Balkum and Hobbs McCorrack all sat around the table in the back of the inn.
“The militia is lost, general Alecus won’t return for three more days and Joshua is fighting in the street of thorns!” Thomas yelled.
“Keep down Thomas, the guard will be searching home to home for us” Hobbs said quietly.
Alexander stood up, “The rebellion is over, Alecus nor Joshua can take the city!”
Jor glared at him, “They aided us when we were bleeding at the chapel, he’ll care for us now!” Jor said.
For hours they debated their next course of action. In the morning the exited the inn to find the remains of the militia. The chapel bell began to ring, “Ding, ding, ding!” it rung, “That’s the execution bell, no doubt it’s one of ours!” Jor yelled out.
The group ran to the chapel to find someone on the executioner's block, it was Mathas, “Mathas!” Jor yelled but he was quickly silenced by his friends.

title: [FN]The Story of Jor Rebellion Part I

question: Why is the militia being readied for battle?

answer: They are preparing for a confrontation with the king's men.

question: What are the people fighting for?

answer: The King has been starving the Western Isles and the people are in dissent.

question: Who is on the executioner's block?

answer: Mathas is on the executioner's block.

question: Why is the chapel bell ringing?

answer: The chapel bell is ringing to signal that an execution is about to occur.

question: Write a ~7 sentence summary.

answer: The townspeople prepare to attack the castle after being starved by the King. Jor readies the militia. The King's army attacks first, and they all charge in. Jor attacks with just a knife, and kills many man. At midnight, it seems as though the militia has taken many losses, with hundreds of causalities. Mathas attempts to flee, but hours letter, the execution bell rings. Mathas is on the executioner's block.


text:
Republican lawmakers in South Carolina have prefiled legislation to legalize medical marijuana in the state next year, saying patients have waited long enough for legal access to the drug.

“It is unacceptable that South Carolinians with serious illnesses have to break the law to alleviate their suffering,” said the legislation’s lead sponsor in the House of Representatives, Rep. Bill Herbkersman (R), who says that marijuana helped his brother treat symptoms related to cancer.

“My brother deserved better. Our friends, family, and neighbors deserve the same options to medicine that are afforded to Americans in 36 other states,” he said. “Waiting any longer will only add to the suffering that is experienced by those who are plagued with debilitating illness.”

Lawmakers filed two versions of what’s being called The South Carolina Compassionate Care Act on Wednesday. Herbkersman’s H. 3361 is the House measure, while Sen. Tom Davis (R) is sponsoring S. 150 in the legislature’s other chamber. The measures are expected to be taken up during next year’s session, which begins in mid-January.

“I feel there is a very good chance we get something passed this session,” Davis said in a statement released on Thursday. “This bill has been fully vetted after five years of testimony and input by various stakeholders. The time has come for lawmakers to get out of the way and allow patients, in consultation with their physicians, to legally and safely access medicinal cannabis.”

South Carolina doesn’t have a citizen-led initiative process, the path by which many states have legalized medical cannabis, but Davis said on Twitter last month that if he can’t get lawmakers to pass the bill outright he will push to get them to at least place the issue on the ballot through a legislature-referred referendum

“I will work on a bill to send the question to the people,” he said.

  There’s no citizen-petition process in SC. But if I can’t get it passed by the legislature, I will work on a bill to send the question to the people.

  — Tom Davis (@senatortomdavis) November 13, 2020

While the two versions of the legislation introduced this week differ on specifics, both would legalize medical marijuana for patients with qualifying conditions and establish a dispensary model for distribution. Both would also forbid patients from growing the plant at home.

The Senate’s version is the more restrictive of the two bills. Under S. 150, smoking marijuana would remain illegal, and only processed oils, edibles and topical applications would be available to patients. In a 14-day period, patients by default could buy up to two ounces of total THC in ingestible products, 8.2 grams in concentrates meant for vaporization and four grams in topicals, though doctors could adjust individual patient limits.

The House version, meanwhile, would permit marijuana flower, whether smoked or used for other applications, and allow smoking-related paraphernalia. In a 14-day period, patients could buy up to two ounces of dried cannabis or the equivalent amount of edibles or topicals.

Doctors would also have considerably more leeway under the House bill in terms of recommending medical marijuana. While the Senate version only lists specific types of conditions that qualify for cannabis treatment, the House measure also allows physicians to recommend marijuana to any patient with a debilitating condition that the doctor is qualified to treat. It also specifically lists chronic pain as a qualifying condition, which the Senate version does not.

Here’s a closer look at the legislation’s qualifying conditions:

-   Cancer
-   Multiple sclerosis
-   Neurological disease or disorder, including epilepsy
-   Sickle cell anemia
-   Autism
-   Chronic pain — _HOUSE VERSION ONLY_
-   Glaucoma
-   Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD
-   Crohn’s disease
-   Ulcerative colitis
-   Cachexia, or wasting syndrome
-   Severe or persistent nausea — _SENATE VERSION REQUIRES PATIENT TO BE HOMEBOUND_
-   Terminal illness with less than a year to live
-   A condition causing severe and persistent muscle spasms
-   A condition for which opiates could be prescribed
-   Any debilitating condition the recommending doctor is qualified to treat — _HOUSE VERSION ONLY_

The legislation would establish a Medical Cannabis Advisory Board to consider issues such as whether new qualifying conditions should be added.

Bill Griffith, a family medicine doctor in Anderson, SC, said in a statement provided by the advocacy group SC Compassionate Care Alliance that legalization would allow patients who are already using medical marijuana to access safe, tested, reliable products through a regulated market.

“The illegality of medical cannabis in our state is forcing many patients to rely on the dangerous underground market to access their medicine,” he said. “South Carolinians deserve the ability to safely and legally use a substance that has been proven to be effective in treating a variety of medical conditions and poses fewer negative side effects than many prescription drugs, especially opioids, which continue to claim many lives.”

Both versions of the bill would initially license one dispensary per 20 pharmacies in the state, as well as 15 cultivation centers, 30 processing facilities, five testing laboratories and four transporters.

Medical marijuana would be taxed a rate of six percent, the same rate the state attaches to non-prescription drugs. Most of the resulting revenue (90 percent) would go to the state’s general fund, with smaller percentages going to medical marijuana research (5 percent), study into how to detect cannabis-impaired driving (3 percent) and drug safety education (2 percent).

Other new cannabis-related bills prefiled in the House ahead of the 2021 session include another medical marijuana bill, H. 3174, known as The Put Patients First Act, as well as  H. 3202, which would allow a select pool of military veterans to possess cannabis. Another bill, H. 3228, would decriminalize possession up to an ounce of marijuana or hashish. In the Senate, prefiled bills include S. 335—a proposal by Sen. Mia McLeod (D) to permit marijuana for by adults 21 and over and launch a regulated retail cannabis industry—and S. 268, which would put a nonbinding advisory question on the state’s 2022 ballot asking whether voters favor legalizing marijuana for all adults.

  S.335 decriminalizes personal use of marijuana, regulates its sale, and imposes penalties for violations: https://t.co/vLO1OrfedK pic.twitter.com/05WoxNB7Ti

  — Mia McLeod (@MiaforSC) December 10, 2020

While South Carolina Republicans, such as Davis, have attempted to legalize medical marijuana in the past—getting as far as a successful Senate subcommittee vote in 2019—they still face pushback from within their own party.

Gov. Henry McMaster (R) has deferred to law enforcement leaders, such as State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel, who has said South Carolina shouldn’t legalize until after the federal government reclassifies marijuana.

“As long as Keel opposes it,” the Charleston Post and Courier reported, “so too will Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who has said he does not want to get out of law enforcement on the issue.”

Davis in the Senate, meanwhile, said he thinks it’s a political miscalculation by his fellow Republicans to oppose legalization.

“I think it’s a winning issue for them, and I think it’s a strategic mistake to cede the issue to Democrats,” he told the newspaper. “What you’re talking about here is letting an individual, in consultation with their physician, decide for themselves what’s best. I’m not sure you can get more fundamental to limited government than that.”

A 2018 Benchmark Research poll found that 72 percent of South Carolinians support medical marijuana legalization, including nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of Republicans, SC Compassionate Care said. That same year, 82 percent of voters in the Democratic primary election voted in favor of medical cannabis legalization in a nonbinding ballot advisory vote.

That strong support encouraged supportive lawmakers, who prefiled four marijuana measures two years ago, as the 2019 session was about to begin. While that legalization push fell short, advocates say voters’ overwhelming approval of legalization ballot measures at the polls last month—including a medical marijuana question in Mississippi—bode well for this year’s effort.

“In Mississippi, more than 2/3 of voters opted to enact a medical cannabis measure. 74% of Americans now live in a state that allows medicinal use of cannabis,” Davis wrote on Twitter last month in response to a political mailer criticizing his work on the issue. “2021 simply MUST be the year we get it done.”

  In Mississippi, more than 2/3 of voters opted to enact a medical cannabis measure. 74% of Americans now live in a state that allows medicinal use of cannabis. 2021 simply MUST be the year we finally get it done. You tired of sleazy anonymous mailers spreading misinformation? pic.twitter.com/ZUgNkaxNgI

  — Tom Davis (@senatortomdavis) November 13, 2020

Congressional observers, meanwhile, are watching South Carolina to see whether legalization there could change the calculus at the federal level, where the U.S. Senate is seen as the last remaining obstacle to federal cannabis legalization. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a high-ranking senator who represents the state and chairs the key Senate Judiciary Committee, has consistently opposed legalization, and some advocates wonder whether a policy shift in Graham’s home state could push him to reconsider letting cannabis advance in his panel should his party maintain a majority in the body following next month’s runoff elections for two Georgia seats.

Nearly two-thirds of all voters, and 51 percent of Republicans, said in a recent national poll that they support a House-passed bill to federally legalize marijuana.

Graham’s challenger in the last election, Jaime Harrison, a former South Carolina Democratic Party chairman, made legalization—not just of medical marijuana, but for adult use, too—a key part of his campaign. “I think we should legalize, regulate and tax marijuana like we do for alcohol and tobacco,” he said in July. “There is simply no reason to lock people up over this issue.”

  Embracing Marijuana Legalization Could Have Offset Democratic Election Losses, Poll Indicates

Marijuana Moment is made possible with support from readers. If you rely on our cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, please consider a monthly Patreon pledge.

[]

question: Sumamrize the daetails about the cannabis bill Senator Tom Davis is working on.

answer: Senator Tom Davis is one of the Republican lawmakers who have filed legislation to legalize medical marijuana in South Carolina. The bill, titled The South Carolina Compassionate Care Act, has taken five years to draft and paves way for physicians to legally prescribe marijuana. Some of the qualifying conditions for doctors to prescribe it are cancer, autism, sickle cell anemia, ulcerative colitis, terminal illness with less than a year to live, and other similar conditions. Also, the bill stipulates that a Medical Cannabis Advisory Board be set up to review qualifying conditions as needed.

question: Why are the majority of Republicans refusing to support The South Carolina Compassionate Care Act?


text:
One spoke with a high voice, raspy from a lengthy stint of smoking in his youth. One spoke with a smooth, low voice, like honey in the sun. They stood before the glass. On the other side, a doctor was speaking to a pregnant woman.

"What are they talking about?" The doctor with the high voice was always so empathetic from behind the glass.

And only behind the glass.

The other doctor's low voice came out so easily, it was soothing if not for his demeanor, "Movies, I think. Last I heard, she told the doctor she hadn't seen a movie since becoming pregnant."

"That's too bad."

"So he's been giving amateur reviews of what he's seen. Nice guy." Despite his low voice, he held himself high, now folding his arms to keep them from dangling.

"Amateur reviews from a health care professional."

The door opened. What may have become silence instead became the ticking clock of a superior's footsteps. The storm front had come in, the piper was calling.

"How's the machine doing today?" She asked of her subordinates.

"Just fine, like usual," the high voiced doctor answered, with a wrinkle of his brow in confusion, "why wouldn't it?" He added.

She disregarded his last remark, "Good. Here's Dr. Brahm, he'll be standing in today."

The high voiced doctor began to worry, "An audit?"

"A new promotion." She looked out to the hall to signal for Brahm's entrance.

The deeper voiced doctor shook his head, "Hell of a case to stand in on." He looked out at the woman.

Brahm entered, "Thank you, Dr. Saras," addressing the female doctor who had brought him in, "glad to be here."

"You won't be." The high voiced doctor corrected.

"This is Dr. Hanum," She gestured to the high voiced doctor, and then to the deeper voiced one, "and this is Dr. Sury. They are the primary caretakers of judgments based on the machine's results."

"Nice to meet you," Brahm shook Sury and Hanum's hands, then looked back at Saras for instruction.

She asked Sury and Hanum, "What do we have today?"

Sury, in his smooth way of talking, somehow made what he said worse by his nonchalance, "The lady in question came in for a sonogram and some other tests. The boys in testing decided to try the machine."

"And?"

"And the mother is cleared, but her baby, well..." Sury didn't want to finish what he was saying.

"Fifty percent." So Hanum did.

For a moment, Saras processed what had been said. Doctors Hanum and Sury both watched over the woman and the doctor. Neither knew of what was occurring behind the glass, and neither knew of the existence of any "machine."

"Fifty percent for what?" Brahm felt it was something that should have naturally been explained to him.

Saras, as the highest ranking professional in the room, felt it was her duty to explain, "Fifty percent that the baby will kill at least one person."

The look on Barhm's face was exactly the look Sury and Hanum had seen before. Saras thought nothing of it.

"You're joking. I don't do well with dark jokes in professional settings."

"You'll never last, then." Sury went back to looking through the glass.

"Come on, what's the real explanation?"

"That is the real explanation." Saras kept a serious look to make sure Barhm understood.

"*Right*. Okay. So *then* what?"

Hanum sighed before responding, "We make a decision. That's what we do." He indicated Sury and himself with his hands.

"Why don't you take a back seat to this and let them decide? You're here to learn, after all." Saras informed Brahm.

Brahm began thinking this was all a crude act, "Okay."

Sury was surprised by his submission, "Now then, we have the method of chemically stalling the unborn child's development to the point of miscarriage selected."

Brahm began sweating.

"It's just that fifty percent seems a little too on-the-nose for this." Hanum retorted.

"And yet that's what it is." Sury didn't want to waste time.

Saras again questioned their collective proficiency, "How many times did the machine run?"

Hanum went into his pocket for a small sheet, "They tell me it was run at least 20 times. No deviation greater than a percent. Average is exactly fifty percent."

"Could it be a test?" Even Saras wasn't sure.

Sury was impatient, "Look, does it matter? We still have to make a judgment."

Brahm couldn't take it anymore, "You can't make a judgment on that!"

Again, silence.

"Well, we do," Sury just wanted to finish this quickly and forget about it, "even now, we will."

"Usually, anything above fifty we don't make question, we just do it. Anything below, and we give them a pass." Hanum assured.

"Never exactly fifty before, though." Saras added.

"I don't think it's a test. Statistically, it was bound to happen."

Sury was annoyed by this, "Whether or not it is, we need to treat it as if it weren't a test."

Brahm felt like they were missing his point, "But what about the other fifty percent? What if this kid cures cancer? What if the machine is misjudging?"

"What if it isn't?" Hanum was speaking to himself as well.

Saras leaned against the wall. She wanted to see how Sury and Hanum would handle Brahm's difference in perspective.

"You have to give people the chance!" The tension was getting to Brahm.

Sury looked him over, then prepared himself to speak longer than he'd like to, "Look, Brahm. I know you're thinking about this from a moral perspective. But this is a life-or-death situation. Maybe not for us, but for that unborn child and whomever their victim or victims might be one day. Now, maybe doing all this makes *me* a killer, too. It would only make sense if someone had aborted me, if what I'm doing really is wrong. Maybe one day I'll grow to take this all too personally and snap, shooting my family dead. It would have been better if I was never born."

Brahm didn't know how to respond.

Sury continued, "Even though my kids would never be born, it would be a much fairer trade. My wife would probably just have had kids with someone else, and the world would be better off."

Hanum tried to appeal more to Brahm's logical side, "This baby might one day become a terrorist, a mass shooter, killing dozens of more innocent people."

"It's one life versus many." Sury justified.

Brahm wasn't satisfied, "And if the child doesn't grow up to kill anyone?"

"Doesn't matter." Sury waved it away with his hand.

"Of course it does!" Brahm couldn't keep his composure any longer.

Saras did nothing to interrupt.

"It's like that train thing, with one person on the tracks and a splitter with four people on the other one." Hanum quietly tried to share.

Brahm was still erratic, "I'd trade four of you for that baby, right now!"

"You've lost yourself." Sury casually observed.

"Look," Hanum attempted calming Brahm down, "the mother will never know. It will be peaceful. There's no harm done to either of them."

Saras closed her eyes, "No harm?" She thought.

Hanum felt like he was better suited to appealing to Brahm than Sury was, "It's a flip of a coin. However, if we kill the child and we're wrong, we'll never know. If we let it be born and we're wrong about it, then people die."

"You're killing a child. Either way." Brahm's breathing was unsteady.

"*Unborn* child." Sury pointed out.

"It's not like we take pleasure in this." Hanum added.

"Well, maybe if we save lives."

"But we'll never know for sure."

"The uncertainty is why we must choose death."

Brahm stood there, feeling dizzy. They were bombarding him with their logic now. Somehow, it felt like they were missing something. Brahm couldn't discern what it was, distracted by his own emotions. He felt he had to say something to stall a bit longer, though.

"Do you know how many people they might kill?" Was all he could think of.

"We don't know for sure. Could become a serial killer, could just be a suicide." Sury let it slip.

"Suicide?" Brahm found it hard to breath; somewhere within him, his respiratory system appeared to be failing, "You might prevent them from being born because they might kill themselves?"

"We don't know who they'd kill or how many, so we have to make the safest bet." Hanum again tried appeasing Brahm's worries.

"Safe? How... wait... you two had this already decided before I even showed up. Probably before you even got the reading from the machine. Am I wrong?"

"Saras, he's becoming hysterical." Sury's disposition toward Brahm was becoming increasingly hostile.

Brahm then felt like he finally came up with an alternative, "How about treatment?"

Hanum squinted, "Altering the unborn child's chemistry is not something we understand, nor could do safely. We don't want to harm the mother for the sins of her child."

"This child has their whole life ahead of them. To take that away is beyond evil. You have to give them a chance. If people are infinitely capable of good or evil, then you have to give them the chance to succeed or fail. It's only fair."

Sury interjected, "And is it fair for someone innocent to then be removed from the world of the living because of one unstable person's idiotic decision?"

Brahm kept going, "So you treat them. *After birth.* You know that they could be at risk, so you have the advantage. You make sure that they don't become the worst version of themselves. But judging someone on who they *might* become is impossibly silly. We are all capable of good and evil, even now."

Sury shook his head. Hanum smirked. Saras kept to herself.

Eventually, she answered, "Do you know what that might cost?"

"Cost?"

"We test hundreds of people a day. If we had to go and raise all of them, that would be a significant burden on the tax payers. It's hard enough funding the hospital as it is, with pharmaceutical companies charging fortunes and pressure from insurance companies."

Brahm looked at her, "I thought you of any of them might've understood."

Sury looked back through the window.

Hanum knew where this was heading, "It's just impractical."

Brahm wanted to laugh, though the gravity of the room smothered even that, "Cost? How much does a life cost then, before it is too much to justify saving?" He looked around from face to face, expecting no answer. Then, he targeted Sury again, "*You* have kids. What would you think if one of them were erased like this?"

"One was. I had all my wife's pregnancies checked." He looked out at the woman still conversing with the friendly doctor on the other side of the glass.

Brahm had a look of horror, "So, you've been doing this for that long?" Then he thought, "I wonder, did my parents get checked before having me?"

Hanum then addressed Sury, getting back on track while Brahm was dazed, "He brings up a good point, Sury. If we knew how many people they might kill, it would allow us to skew the percentage a bit, mathematically. Fifty percent to kill oneself shouldn't weigh nearly as much as fifty percent to bomb a building. Or even fifty percent to shoot a single person."

Sury turned to Saras, "Think it would be possible for the machine to be improved?"

Saras folded her arms, "We've been looking into that for some time. It'll take another couple of years to secure the funding."

"Guess we go on like normal," Sury brushed it off.

"This isn't right."

Hanum and Sury looked at Brahm, then at Saras. They non-verbally decided that he was beyond convincing. Saras shrugged, unfazed by this realization.

She stepped between them all and looked Brahm in the face, "If it were me, that were the mother, I'd like to have the choice." She put her hand on his shoulder, "It's only right that *she* be the one to decide, isn't it?"

Brahm's eyes shifted focus between each of hers, then down to his feet, "I guess it should be up to the parent."

"Clever compromise," Sury chuckled.

"I wouldn't want to ever go through that, though. I can't imagine any parent would choose unbirth over birth." Brahm mumbled.

Saras began guiding Brahm to the window, "You did well." She then eyed Hanum.

"Yes," He added, "you pass with flying colors."

He looked up, "Pass? This was a test?"

Sury laughed, "Sure. We have to make sure all doctors adhere to a strict moral compass, don't we?"

Brahm smiled, "So it really *was* some kind of joke?"

Saras nodded it away, "No, this is serious business. We don't take this kind of thing lightly."

"I'm so relieved. I can't believe I fell for it." Brahm noticed how much he had been sweating, despite the cool air of the room.

Saras then sent Brahm out of the room. He walked out, Saras following him shortly behind. The door swung open into a sterile hallway, appearing of ivory. By comparison, the room looked darker, devoid of light, as Brahm left it.

Just before Saras joined him in the hall, she looked back in at Hanum and Sury, "Finish this quickly," before shutting the door behind her.

Sury looked back through the glass, "We would have if she hadn't shown up."

Hanum looked at the woman and the doctor, "Think they're still talking about movies?"

"Maybe he should quit and become a film critic." His honey voice was able to keep Hanum at ease.

Hanum's raspy voice now sounded tired after the stress of Brahm's inclusion in their work, "I hope she sees some more movies. Some of the recent releases have surprising endings."

The two submitted their decision less then five minutes later. Brahm never saw Hanum or Sury ever again. Saras waited a week before bringing anyone else in the room, to "test" them. Still, the days went on, and the pregnant woman left that day not feeling a thing out of place.

title: [SP] Decision of Glass Lives

question: Describe the evolution of Brahm's way of thinking before he is told the truth.

answer: Brahm is initially reserved and professional, but as the realized about the stakes, he spoke his mind quite loudly. He tried to bargain with Sury and Hanum, pointing out the potential of the baby. Then he attempted an appeal to their social ethics, by stating that people should be given the chance. This is answered by an emphasis of the direness of the sitaution and Hanum asserts that he gave up a child when his family was subjected to the test too. Brahm changes tactics and questions the validity of the machine's prediction. When this is dismissed, he has an outburst which is then met with consolation that the procedure is harmless. He then insists that this is an act of killing, which leads to a discussion of the potential damage the child will do in the future. So Brahm suggests treatment as an alternative, but he is told that it would put the mother at risk. He bargains further, suggesting treatment after birth, but this would then be too costly to be practical or sustainable. Ultimately, he gives up on pushing his ideals and negotiates for giving the mother the power to decide. His thoughts on the matter stop evolving past this point as he is then told the true nature of the discussion.


text:
With her red cotton dress, white shoulder bag and flowing black hair, she has become the colour-coded emblem of TURKEY'S new people-power movement.

Caught on camera as she was sprayed head to toe in tear gas, Ceyda Sungur's treatment at the hands of Istanbul's riot police seemed the epitome of using a "sledgehammer to crack a nut" and encapsulated the government's heavy-handed response to a civilised protest.

Pictures of the "Lady in the Red Dress" quickly spread around the world via the internet. Those who shared the pictures online joined protesters in demanding to know why a woman who looked attired for a summer picnic had been treated like a masked, brick-throwing
anarchist.

But for Ms Sungur it is unwanted fame. Last week she described herself as just part of a wider grass-roots movement, and pointed out in brief remarks to a Turkish newspaper that hundreds of others had been gassed in similar fashion.

Having declined requests for interviews from all over the world, Ms Sungur, an academic, has spoken briefly but vividly to The Sunday Telegraph about her involvement in what happened, how she is now working in a makeshift clinic to help others hurt in demonstrations, and how she hopes the attention can now be shifted away from her.

"For me this is about freedom of speech and the power of the people," said Ms Sungur, who was left choking for breath after the gas attack.

"Now people have, for the first time, the self-confidence to reclaim their power. They have the self-confidence to change everything."

The photos of Ms Sungur set off a major escalation of the protests, which have pitted Turkey's secular middle class against what they see as an increasingly authoritarian Islamist government.

So far three people have been killed and nearly 1,000 admitted to hospital, as the demonstrations have spread across the country.

As well as being shared via Facebook, Twitter and other social media, Ms Sungur's image has become a permanent part of the protest landscape, appearing as a cartoon on posters, stickers and banners.

Protesters in the city of Izmir have even turned the image into a fairground-style billboard, where demonstrators can poke their head through a hole where her face is and posing for pictures.

Keen to keep out of the limelight, Ms Sungur, meanwhile, is continuing to work behind the scenes, volunteering at an improvised field hospital in Taksim Square, the epicentre of the Istanbul protests.

"We have created field stations on Taksim Square where we look after people who have been injured," she said, declining to specify further details for fear that the volunteer doctors might be arrested.

Ms Sungur works in the planning department of Istanbul's Technical University, a faculty not normally seen as a hotbed of radical politics.

She had little inkling of the anti-government revolt she was about to unleash when she and a group of architect friends first joined a sit-in to stop bulldozers moving in on Gazi Park, a small patch of green in Taksim Square.

Those friends described to _The Sunday Telegraph_ their shock at what happened next. "Ceyda texted me to get to the park," said Meriç Demir, 28. "Ten to 15 minutes later when we arrived she was yelling from the effect of the tear gas.

Meric\ Demir.\ (RUTH\ SHERLOCK\ FOR\ THE\ SUNDAY\ TELEGRAPH)

"We were so surprised. Some of us began yelling, 'we are academics, stop this!' Some tried to help Ceyda. We were shocked because you don't even spray insects in your home in such a direct way."

On paper, the protest was little more than an impassioned planning dispute, with a group of environmentalists opposing a government-backed project for an ambitious redevelopment of the area.

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, insisted the redevelopment would be a massive improvement, with a new shopping centre, a pedestrianised zone, an opera house, a cultural centre and a mosque.

But critics said that as well as involving the demolition of Gazi Park – one of the few green "lungs" in the area – it would amount to a creeping "Islamisation" of central Istanbul. In addition to the mosque, the plans included rebuilding an Ottoman-era military barracks that was the scene of a failed Islamist military uprising in 1909.

Protesters also claimed the decision to press ahead was made without proper public consultation, which they said epitomised Mr Erdogan's high-handed, authoritarian style.

As such, when the police moved in to clear the protesters – and Ms Sungur's ordeal was conveyed to the wider world – the protest mushroomed into a much wider expression of popular discontent.

In Taksim Square, which has since been occupied completely by demonstrators, a wide range of grievances can be heard.

The\ protests\ continued\ in\ Taksim\ Square\ this\ weekend.\ (BULENT\ KILIC/AFP)

Many complain about the government's recent decision to ban alcohol sales between 10pm and 6am and from shops close to schools and mosques. Others are angry at recent attempts to ban kissing in the streets.

"You cannot touch everyone's lives like this. Erdogan's policies are too invasive," said Ms Demir. "It's not even about the alcohol. This is about respect."

Taksim Square is also a traditional rallying point for secular Turks, whose spiritual leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, made the country a civil state nearly a century ago, viewing Islamic rule as a brake on the country's development.

"Taksim is a symbol of the Turkish Ataturk revolution," said Prof Handan Turkoglu, 57, Ms Sungur's department head, who has launched a petition protesting against Mr Erdogan's plans and was herself tear-gassed with her students.

For its signatories, the battle against the development is now a metaphor for the fight over the state of the nation; a fight to stop Turkey's secular democracy turning into a system where the lines between religion and state are blurred.

During more than a decade in power Mr Erdogan has determinedly dragged Turkey away from the aggressively secular, anti-religious dictatorship of Ataturk in the 1920s. So confident is he that he seemed at one point to be identifying himself with the Ottoman emperors, calling one of his newly built mosques Selatin, meaning a religious building constructed at the request of a sultan.

He has since gone further, announcing a new bridge over the Bosphorus to be called the Yavuz Sultan Selim. Sultan Selim the Grim is particularly reviled by a substantial Turkish minority, the Alevis, for his brutality towards them during a 16th-century war with the Persian empire.

Mr Erdogan's political success has made him an ambiguous character for both Turkey's traditional friends in the West and his own people. The West welcomes his liberal economic reforms – obedient to diktats from the International Monetary Fund – which have empowered businessmen and seen the economy triple in size.

But many of those businessmen are close to his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and are socially conservative, backing his attempts to encourage religious norms such as the hijab, women's headscarves, and restrictions on alcohol. They are also changing the face of many of Turkey's cities with modern, some say garish, Gulf-style developments like that planned for Taksim.

The West has meanwhile supported Mr Erdogan's close involvement in the Syrian rebel cause – dominated by Sunni Muslims, the majority creed in Turkey – but it has not been so popular at home, where it has been seen to drag the country into a war many feel is none of its business.

The main issue, though, has become Mr Erdogan's personal style of leadership: confident to the point of cocky, and clear in his view that three landslide election victories, most recently in 2011, have given him a mandate to push through his vision.

It is the air of personal invincibility that wins him passionate support among his rural base but also stirs so much resentment among the secular, liberal demonstrators in Taksim Square.

They accuse him of running a tyranny of the majority, ignoring the 49 per cent who did not vote for him in the last election.

"Yes I know the prime minister is elected by half the country," said Ms Demir. "But there is another half of the country who also want to be listened to as well."

Ozgur Ogret, a freelance journalist and analyst, said Mr Erdogan's policies were making those loyal to Turkey's modern secular customs feel "what the Kurds have been facing for decades, and the kind of suppression that Muslims were subjected to [under Ataturk]."

Protesters in Taksim and in more than 67 cities across the country say Mr Erdogan has misunderstood what democracy means in the modern day, except for the crude fact of winning elections.

Most protesters are realistic enough to know that, despite the banners and graffiti calling for him to resign, this is unlikely to happen, and that he may still win the next election, but they are saying democracy must also take into account the attitudes of the minority.

They also object to creeping encroachment on press and other freedoms, which has also been criticised by international human rights groups.

"Cities need green open spaces, breathing gaps. It shouldn’t be a source of conflict between the government and the citizens. It’s a delicate matter about human rights and public benefit," said Eren Kurkcuoglu, an architect. "That’s what we’re trying to teach our students, now they experience it very well. We have to be careful and watch our sentences. But government too has to be careful in how to treat us."

Back on Taksim Square yesterday, the protests continued. A decision to withdraw the police has given the square a feel of a summertime British music festival, with tents, food stalls and drummers.

Mr Erdogan, who has dismissed the demonstrators as "a few looters" backed by extremists, was also meeting his advisers to plan his next steps. He still insists he has the country on his side.

The Lady in Red will be observing closely and sternly.

"In Istanbul, I have watched people stop a Metro in its tracks when they need to get on it," she said.

"That is like the power people feel now. They have the self-confidence to change everything."

question: What does the article say about acts of aggression?

answer: Ceyda Sungur was sprayed head to toe in tear gas by Istanbul's riot police. During demonstrations, three people were killed and nearly 1000 were admitted to the hospital.

question: What does the article say about the reaction to Sungur getting tear gassed?

answer: People online demanded to know why she was being treated like a brick-throwing anarchist. Sungur received requests for interviews from all over the world. She also decided to work in a makeshift clinic to help others hurt in demonstrations. The photos of Sungur set off an escalation of protests. Her image has also appeared as a cartoon on posters, stickers, and banners.

question: What does the article say about Sungur's personal life?


text:
This is my first time ever on reddit for anything because it was suggested to me in order to get feedback on my writing. Let me know!

I look at my watch, running toward the Jeffers estate. My family and I just moved here so I only know that the town has been prosperous under the Jeffers family, Cooper Jeffers to be accurate. It’s announced everywhere in town, the economy thrives off the Jeffers company, Jeffers Inc. So naturally, here is where I began to look for a job.
	I never really imagined getting a job at their personal estate. Although actually technically Cooper’s son, Aaron has his own mansion. MANSION. When I was taking a tour on my first day of work five days ago, I expected a mansion, but definitely not two. The main house is bigger, and just ridiculously lavish. I freely gawked at everything I saw. And then we met/ran into the females of the family, Elaina and Sadie.
	They explained that Elaina was the oldest and Sadie was the youngest. Then why would Aaron have his own house? I remember thinking. And then I realized it was because Aaron was the son, the boy. And I felt horrified at this notion, but Elaina and Sadie seemed perfectly happy when we saw them. I heard they went to the top private school in the city about 15 miles away.
	I, of course, go to the public school in town. It’s made up of different kinds of people, but all are in families employed by the Jeffers. Their family owns my entire school. It’s a thought that sends me into a storm of jealousy and then a spiral of hate. You see, my father is a machine operator at one of the Jeffers’ plants. He had to move here to get better pay. My mother is a schoolteacher, elementary school. And I have a little annoying brother named Max. So my family isn’t rich, but we aren’t poor. I feel pretty average. I’m fifteen and he’s thirteen. A pretty typical, average American family.
	But these Jeffers people, they are definitely not. They are the kings of modern society and I immediately make assumptions about Aaron. He is probably a slacker with no ambitions of his own, just waiting to get his GED or diploma or whatever so he can inherit his fortune and live however he wants for the rest of his life. I excused myself to the toilet, and plopped down on the seat, exasperated. Already. (And not that I actually had to go to the bathroom). How can I work for these people? They’re everything wrong with society! I remember thinking.
	I smile at my thoughts that day, still awkwardly running to the house. Because when I had left the bathroom, my day declined further, I was assigned to Aaron’s house. I was about to just slip out the door quietly when I heard the hourly pay. That made me turn my attitude right around.
	…Everyone has their price I guess.

Anyway, when I had toured and been trained for the first five days, Aaron had been in the hospital. I only remembering hearing that he had fallen under some misfortunes and not much else. So I focused on learning everything. And now here I am, the first day I get to work independently and I’m going to be late! I notice a huge crowd of people outside. Oh shit! Shit! Shit! I just now remember that Aaron is coming home today and they are throwing a party for him.
	So I run up to the house and look for a place to stash my things.
	“Need help?” I hear a voice I recognize. I turn and see a girl my age named Grace. I met her three days ago in Aaron’s house while we got assigned to tidy up his study. We gossiped about the family. I am so thankful to see her I smile.
	“You are my guardian angel. Where can I put this?” I ask her holding up my bag. It has food, my cell phone, some money and my house keys. I take the public bus back and forth.
	“Over here,” she says, taking me to a room inside the mansion. There were people’s things everywhere. “This room has video surveillance so no one ever steals anything.”
	“Oh, good,” I say, dumping my bag on the floor. When we were cleaning the study a few days ago Grace told me she is 16, and goes to a different private school than Aaron, but in the same city near here named Salin Falls. Her father is headmaster there. She knows of Aaron well, like many of the other people in town. She told me he loves sports, and is extremely good at them. They’ve played against each other’s schools and she goes to the games just to watch him. She couldn’t tell me anymore because we were summoned by Sherri, our supervisor.
	Now she leads me through a maze of people outside again, looking back at me.
	“We have to get a good spot, he’s really gorgeous.” She looks excited to see him but I feel hesitant. I still slightly despise the entire family. “I heard he and his dad used to get in fights all the time until recently. Aaron wants to pursue a career in sports while his dad wants him to take over the family business.”
	I stare at her, shocked, mouth slightly open. I come to realize I am no Nancy Drew, and that my assumptions always have a way of biting me in the ass. I would be a terrible profiler.
	“What?” she asks, tilting her head, confused at my shocked reaction.
	“Oh, nothing, I’m just a total idiot.”
	It’s then that we hear the car approach. I feel nervous almost as the family steps out of the car, but they close the doors without any other man except for Cooper. I had met Cooper only yesterday when he returned home to gather some things and take a shower. I happened to wander onto the estate as he was climbing out of the car, leaning on a cane. He bent over to grab his bag but I offered to carry it for him. He stopped, looked at me with a smile and said
	“Okay, young lady, let’s see what you’ve got.”
	“I’ve got more than you’d think!” I had stupidly responded, and immediately blushed. What the hell? But the man had just laughed. He was attractive I had come to realize, with fading dark red hair and dark brown eyes. He also had a mole, but it made him look distinguished in a way.
“I bet,” he had responded with a chuckle.
 I carried his bag inside for him.
	“What’s your name, miss?” he asked me.
	“My name is Layla.”
	“Layla?”
	“My father used to be way too obsessed with Eric Clapton.” I sighed. But Cooper found this very funny and laughed more.
	“Well, Layla, thank you for carrying my bags. I very much enjoyed our chat. Do you work here?”
	“At Aaron’s, I mean, your son’s, I mean Mr. Jeffer’s house.” I stumbled over my words and once again Cooper finds this amusing. He smiled brightly at me.
	“Good. He could use someone like you in his life.”
	And that was all. Then I went back to work.

 And looking at him now, he looks all business. He gathers with the other family members and a stunning black haired young woman.
	“Who’s that?” I ask Grace, spellbound.
	“Oh, that’s Mirabella.”
	“She’s one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.” At this, Grace shakes her head.
	“She’s not a woman, she’s an AI.”
	“AI?”
	“She’s artificial intelligence, a robot. She is Aaron’s and she goes everywhere with him.”
	I am so shocked by this I stare at Grace and almost miss Aaron getting out of the car. Almost. But he seems to demand everyone’s attention. I look, and though I thought I was spellbound by the girl-robot, this guy takes the cake. Grace was right, he is really gorgeous. He’s toned, a few shades darker than my pasty white skin. His hair is dark-red and he is the spitting image of Cooper. But better. He has some stubble, but it only enhances his appearance. He has the natural build of an athlete, and I guess he is over six feet in height. I can’t see his eyes because he is wearing aviator sunglasses, but my God is he handsome. And though I am captivated, I feel even more hatred towards him. He is athletic, gorgeous and rich. This guy must be a complete asshole. He has it made.
	But then I notice he is holding onto the door for support, and people are helping him stand. He’s hurt. And once again, my conflicting emotions decide that although I feel like a complete dumbass and a terrible human, I also feel a little tiny bit of satisfaction. He can’t be on top all the time, it just simply isn’t fair. Especially to us bottom-feeders. We should have a chance too, you know.
	Well, regardless of my conflicting emotions, I watch as he is helped into a wheelchair. He clearly winces in pain and I feel genuinely bad for him, if only for an instant. Then his beautiful robot-girl tends to him and people approach, flocking and obviously concerned and fond of this guy. I even lose Grace in the crowd rush but turn and leave. No point in me sticking around here, there is a party going on and I have work to do.

	Back at the mansion I clean, but I am consumed with thoughts of him. He’s captured me. I get angry at this and try to clear my thoughts of him. I try to think of my new school, my friends from back home, my ex-boyfriend, my dog Sprinkles, my cat Cookie. Cookie is my baby girl. I try to think of everything and anything that isn’t Aaron Jeffers, but my mind keep reverting back to him.
	I am putting dishes away in the kitchen when I hear yelling. I hear multiple people yelling and I hear the front door slam closed. I creep over to the hallway and peer into the front room. People are carrying Aaron and his wheelchair up the stairs while he is tiredly fighting them. I thought he had yelled the name “Mira” and I now notice that his black-haired beauty isn’t with him. But his sisters are with him. I creep out further and listen. Sherri is with them now at the top of the stairs, I hear.
	Sherri asks Aaron what has happened, and I hear one of his sisters tell her to start a bath. She goes to the bathroom and I am about to run back to the kitchen when she looks down and spots me.
	“Layla,” she hisses loudly. I look up at her guiltily.
	“Oh, hello,” I say, looking around nervously. She motions for me to come up there.
	“Come help!”
	I sigh relief as I jog up the stairs and wait where she asks me to. I’m glad I’m not in trouble for spying. All three Jeffers children approach the bathroom now and I keep quiet and hide a little as they enter. But I watch them, and notice Aaron looks extremely upset, a bit pale, and uncomfortable. I also see his leg closer now, it’s wrapped heavily in bandaging. He must be in pain.
	And now I remember suddenly, like a slap in the face that he was in the news recently. He had helped avert some town gas drilling crisis because he got shot (yes, with a gun) and the company pulled out of town. They called it a malevolent act by a school sports-team rival. Now I feel like a stupid, stupid girl. Here is this guy, just doing the best he can and I judged him so quickly. I even felt some perverted pleasure over his pain.
	And now I feel plain horrible. I don’t even deserve to work for this guy. I am tempted to call it quits and work at an establishment where I won’t feel like a terrible person every time I see the owner/boss. But Sherri emerges again.
	“Get some painkillers from the medicine cabinet and a cold wash cloth, hurry!” I run to get his pills and a wet cloth. I return and give her the items, my hands shaking. She takes them quickly and enters the bathroom again.
	When she leaves this time his sisters follow in suit. They go downstairs and tell us both to help him if he calls for it. Sherri and I nod resolutely and wait. After about ten minutes of us patiently waiting, Cooper Jeffers enters the front door, and looks up at us. He gives me a little smile, and then beckons to Sherri, he wants her to go with him. I look at her desperately. I want to cry and beg her not to leave me.
	“Okay, girl, if he calls for you, answer right away. He’s trying to relax in a bath right now so do not be alarmed. The jets are on, you won’t see him naked. Only address him as sir or Mr. Jeffers, and don’t talk loudly, his head hurts a lot right now. Get him whatever he asks for right away. And if you have to handle him for some reason, for God’s sake be gentle, make sure you don’t hurt him further.”
	She turns and leaves while I am still processing everything she just said. I want to ask her to repeat it so I can copy it down op paper but she is already halfway down the stairs now.

title: [RO] Rulers of Terrace View Part 1

question: Who is the narrator?

answer: The narrator is a girl named Layla.

question: What does the narrator feel about Aaron?

answer: Layla finds Aaron gorgeous. His skin is toned, has dark-red hair, and a little stubble that enhanced his appearance. She was captivated by his looks.

question: What had happened to Aaron?

answer: Aaron was shot by a gun in his leg while he helped avert a town gas drilling crisis.


text:
**Haven't looked at this in a while. I'll be browsing other stories and commenting while people get a chance to look over it, like sidebar says to do**

The first pain I remember was my own. Then my father’s.

That first pain was more of a discomfort. I wasn’t in that much pain, my arms didn’t even hurt after—the first pain was hardly pain at all. He had me pinned up against a wall in the kitchen, a strong, caring, fatherly hand for each boyish arm, my legs dangled three feet from the floor and I was weightless like an astronaut, if astronauts were held by their fathers instead of microgravity.

His face was red, not the kind of red that is blood, the kind of red that is rage, the kind of rage that can persuade a loving, caring father to pin his gentle, youngest son, up against a wall, pressing him there while it boils, the kind of red that, if you realize what you’re doing, fades in an instant with shame and wide eyes, the kind of red that haunts, that is the haunting, that commands as much respect as it does terror.

But that wasn’t his pain. The pain was how he looked away, but not even that. The pain was when he didn’t look back, but not even that. The pain wasn’t even how his gentle, loving, forgiving, kind-hearted son didn’t care what his father had done, didn’t even pretend it hadn’t happened, but just wanted his father, wanted to one day have those same strong, caring, fatherly hands that had pinned him up against the wall, hands that made the gentle boy feel safe even when those hands were hurting him. That wasn’t his pain.

The pain happens because, when my father wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at all the times his red-faced old man had slammed him against a wall, left belt buckle welts on his adolescent frame, or laughed when he lost a bet with his brother about how long the bruises would be there, because when my father wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at himself, he was looking at how he had become the part of the man he loved that he hated, even if it just lasted a moment. That was his pain.

Then came another pain, a pain of mine, because even though my father never again became the red-faced old man he had hated, he never finished turning back into the father I loved. I guess that is the third pain that I remember and I guess it is my real pain, my first one doesn’t count.

Then, and this is chronological, it was my brother’s pain, which I did not understand at the time.. We were in the basement. He had rushed down the stairs so loud and so fast that I was shaking when he appeared, red-faced with swollen, watery eyes, older and bigger and stronger. He grabbed my arms and squeezed and told me to be crying like he was, he told me to be hurt and crying, then he threw me against a wall. I was going to tell him that being thrown hadn’t hurt, I didn’t, because he had collapsed into a fetal position on the floor, crying the way the men cry when they’ve had their legs blown off on Normandy beach and they don’t want to be men anymore, the way that another man might cry when he realizes that the first man has stopped crying. That was my brother’s pain. I didn’t understand it yet.

I left the basement when my mother came down to hold on to my brother, to comfort him while she could. I left the basement while my brother cried, up the stairs, in time to watch, through the kitchen window, a blue and red tarp disappear into our garage in the red hands of my father, as if the tarp could conceal its contents. My brother’s best friend would have been there before my mother even knew he was upset, I stand there looking through the kitchen window until my father is done washing off the blue tarp, washing off his hands, pretending that there had never been red, that my brother had never cried because my brother never cries. I understand it now, that he didn’t finish learning to love before he learned to hate.

Then, and this was years later, when I was eleven or twelve, when I was becoming a tall, strong man, I remember my sister’s pain. She is the oldest. Talking on her phone in the living room with all the lights off, I heard her before I saw her, crying like a man cries when he’s got nothing left but a chance to ask for help. And I heard both sides of the conversation because if she hadn’t had the phone on speaker, she wouldn’t have been able to hear the other person over that crying.
She asked if she should, and the voice said if that was what she wanted to do, then, do it.

But that wasn’t her pain. And anyway I’m sure I’m paraphrasing. I didn’t hear exactly. I asked my sister if she was okay and she screamed, go the fuck away, leave me alone. And she hung up. And she had screamed so loud that if the voice had said anything else, she couldn’t have possibly heard it. Maybe the voice had more to say, something helpful. Maybe the voice had changed its mind too late.
I turned right, up the stairs to my room, pretending I could run away from that scream and only getting further away from my sister. That scream, I remember. It is not her pain, but I remember, The scream and the thump, and I felt the thump before I heard it.

Then I heard my brother, in a clear, strong voice, reciting our address, confirming that he did not know how much she took, confirming that she was unresponsive. No, he does not know what types of medicine we have around the house. Yes, he would go look. I walked like a man who does not want to find what he is looking for and like a boy who is afraid to, out of my room, down the stairs, left, past the living room, left, into the kitchen, and there were little things all over the floor, little pills and little capsules of all kinds, everywhere, a kaleidoscope that I’m sure from the right angle could have shown us the pain that we never saw, the pain I don’t remember, I did not stop walking until I saw her feet, still, on the floor. My father was there, waiting to carry her out to the ambulance. It would only be a minute or two.

I turned around before he could look at me, right, into the closet by the living room to get a broom. I’ll sweep, I said. I waited, standing in the closet with my eyes scrunched up so tight, waiting until my father’s footsteps had passed behind me, pretending that those steps weren’t carrying the weight of our ignorance. I waited until the ambulance had come and gone, until my father had started the car and my brother called me a fucking asshole for not coming with them, until it was just me in that house, hearing the screams, listening to the absence of a man’s best friend, to a boy pretending. But in that house, the only sound was that of bristles on the floor while I swept up pain and all the little ways to get rid of it.

But that’s not the pain I remember. That pain was days later, because my sister wanted to see her brothers and my mother took us for a visit, and my mother said that somewhere behind all the machines, under all the little tubes and wires was my sister, but I heard her before I saw her, softer than a shadow can whisper, I’m sorry, exhaled from the place between two cracked lips, her yellow eyes looking up at me through slits in a pale face. That wasn’t the pain either.

It was when she realized that I didn’t believe her, that I didn’t even want to believe her, that I didn’t even try, that the only reason I had come to visit her was because our mother had made me, that under all the little tubes and wires and reasons, I did not see a sister. That’s the pain I remember.

My mother saw that pain, too, and even though it hurt her, that is not her pain. My mother’s pain is so easy to remember because it was the hardest to spot. It is so subtle, so definite, exhaustive. Her pain is different than her hurt.

I know it hurt her when she was yelled at by my older brother for trying to help and comfort her eldest son. That must have hurt her more than hearing him cry like a boy who had just witnessed firsthand his dog get hit by a car, more than watching a dog spit blood into a street, more than watching a dog almost die on impact from a Ford pickup.

It hurt my mother to find out over a phone call that her daughter had attempted suicide, how she might succeed, how her hardened, elder son called the ambulance while the younger one hid in a closet. It would hurt to see your daughter being kept alive by a machine. It would hurt to have to beg and bribe your youngest son to visit his sister in the hospital.

And even though she never found out about the only time my father ever got red, it hurt her to wonder what happened to her gentle, loving, caring son, and why his father won’t talk to him about it.
All of that hurt is obvious. But my mother’s pain isn’t some catastrophe. It’s not the blood, the machines, the crying, it’s not the pale faces, the screams, the whimpers. My mother is too strong for that.

 My mother’s pain is the silence. It is the countless times she has asked me if I needed or wanted anything, and I ignored her. It is the countless times she has asked my brother if he needed or wanted anything and he ignored her. It is the countless times she has asked my sister if she needed or wanted anything and she ignored her. It is the countless times she has asked her husband if he needed or wanted anything and he looked at her the way a man looks when he has nothing left but the will to not ask for help, then he would force a smile, no, he would say.

	I didn’t see it until one afternoon when my mother knocked on the door to my room while I was reading. I didn’t say anything. She opened the door enough to ask if I needed or wanted anything. I ignored her. She closed the door.
	An hour later I realize that I hadn’t eaten yet that day. I open my door and walk down the stairs. Left, past the living room. Left, into the kitchen. I walked until I saw a cold plate on the counter with a cold turkey sandwich in the middle.

Then, through the kitchen window, I saw my mother with swollen, watery eyes, walking out of the garage. I collapsed onto the floor and wept.

title: [RF] How to Teach a Boy to Feel Pain like a Man

question: What happened to the narrator's sister?

answer: The narrator's sister attempted to commit suicide by overdosing on medications. She ends up on life support in the hospital and seems to be in critical condition.

question: Describe the narrator's mother's pain.

answer: The mother's pain comes from being ignored by her family. She is constantly asking them if they need or wanted anything, but they all continue to ignore her.

question: What happened to the narrator's brother?

answer: The narrator's brother witnesses his dog get hit by a car and killed almost immediately.

question: What does the narrator's father do for a living?