A Farewell to Arms

It's been a long time, my friends. For months, I've been content to pass on my random thoughts via Facebook. After all, it seems to bring more comments. I long doubted that there was anything that could bring me out of my self-imposed, blogging retirement.

But, I feel compelled to write about a recent incident I heard about on the Today show this morning. Apparently a man in Connecticut or somewhere thereabouts got his hand stuck in his furnace, and decided to amputate his arm to set himself free.

Now, I understand the story where the person trapped on a giant Mountain had to amputate his arm to free himself from wedged boulders to find help and escape the rugged mountain terrain. And, I saw the season finale of House where they had to convince some woman to amputate her arm to free herself from a collapsed parking garage.

But this man was trapped in his basement. He was tormented not by a fear of wolves or frostbite or oxygen deprivation. He was not trapped in the walk-in freezer at Sam's butcher shop. No, he was tormented by the microwave beeping about the food he had left in it. It wasn't winter, where there was a risk that the furnace might somehow burn his trapped hand. He was trapped in a basement in suburbia for less than 2 days. And, at the end of the day, he wasn't really able to amputate his arm and escape -- his friends rescued him. However, they apparently had to amputate his arm anyway.

I don't mean to be glib about this. Okay, maybe I do a little bit. But, I can't help but wonder whether this man would have ever thought about cutting off his arm if he hadn't seen the endless media coverage of others who have done this. I'm not saying that he did this for media attention. But, the idea surely came from media reports. And more than that -- what does it say about the modern attention span if one is ready to chop off an arm after being trapped in a basement for a day. What's the rush? Surely it's worth waiting a few days before removing a limb. This guy supposedly had a fiancee. Wouldn't you expect her to notice your absence within a few days? Unless she's in Canada, I suppose.