Watching the television news Wednesday evening I saw the report on the young lady with Cerebral Palsy who wished to use an inflated inner tube while swimming off a Vancouver beach.

She was not permitted to swim because the beach has a no use of an inflatable policy to prevent those who cannot swim or do not swim from getting in over their heads and perhaps drowning.

Her mother was upset at this because her daughter does not swim well enough to swim without using her inflated inner tube. Apparently the reporter and her news organization agreed with this point of view to the extent they pressured the Park Board into meeting with mother and daughter to discuss this matter.

The rule is there to prevent people who cannot swim effectively from losing their inflatable support and drowning. The mother states clearly that the daughter needs the inflatable because she does not swim well enough to swim without it. This is exactly the situation the rule exists to address, in order to prevent someone drowning.

As asked, exactly when did they repeal the laws of common sense?

This is just one of those things you just have to share.

I was speaking to a friend of mine who had been off work sick; I was glad to see her out and about and looking good. Appearances, as it turned out, were deceiving.

She had had a nasty flu and on top of that had picked up a virus that has damaged her heart to the point she needs a transplant. She is on the waiting list for a heart and transplant surgery.

Let me digress for a moment and say this is why I have always signed the documents for organ donation and made sure family and friends know I strongly believe in organ donation. Donated organs literally save lives. If you have not signed for organ donation please do.

Anyway my friend shared something that struck me as quite funny in a weird, somewhat twisted way and had my friend hastening to tell me how well everyone had treated her.

They had told her to go home and not to stress about it.

You heart has been damaged, you need a new heart, you are on the waiting list for a heart – should one become available, you would then undergo heart transplant surgery and … oh yes, don’t stress about any of this life/death stuff.

Life versus death, but don’t worry – kick back and be happy. Bizarre.