Grey's Anatomy 6.01: Good Mourning; Goodbye

Every episode of Grey's Anatomy begins and ends with narration, usually by the title character, Dr. Meredith Grey. These narrations typically state the main theme of the episode that the writers want the audience to focus on. Tonight was the premiere of the sixth season, picking up exactly where we left off- with two of the major characters, Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens and Dr. George O'Malley, in mortal peril. Izzie survived- George did not. Therefore, it only seemed appropriate to make this double-episode premiere all about grief. We begin the first episode with Meredith's narration: "According to Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, when we are dying, or have suffered a catastrpohic loss, we all move through five distinct stage of grief. We go into denial, because the loss is so unthinkable, we can't imagine it's true. We become angry with everyone- angry with survivors, angry with ourselves- then we bargain. We beg, we plead, we offer everything we have. We offer up our souls in exchange for just one more day. When the bargaining has failed and the anger is too hard to maintain, we fall into depression; despair, until finally, we have to accept that we have done everything we can. We let go. We let go and move into acceptance." The entire episode is full of situations and quotes that most people can relate to their own lives, and can encourage them to work out their problems, and in this case, overcome their grief. The show posses a quality of being extremely realistic reaches out to its audience and reminds them that we're only human. George O'Malley died because he jumped in front of a bus to save a girl named Amanda. That girl sat on a bench outside Seattle Grace Hospital for weeks. Every single day, she would wake up, go to the hospital, and sit on the bench all day. This was her way of grieving. In the second episode, Izzie confronted Amanda, telling her "...you lived, and George didn't. I know that that feels horrible and terrifying and shocking, but go live your life." Amanda replied, "I don't know how." And, brilliantly, completely relating to the vast majority of humna beings that walk the Earth, Izzie said, "Who does?" Throughout the episode, you can also see how different people deal with grief through the various characters. Dr. Miranda Bailey, George's former resident, demanded the names of every person whose life would be saved by George's organs. She tried to distance herself from everyone, especially those she had known the longest. Meredith poured herself into the activities of newlyweds with Dr. Derek Shepard. Izzie cried. Dr. Alex Karev made Izzie his only priority. Dr. Callie Torres, George's ex-wife-turned-lesbian, requested a promotion. When she was turned down, she channeled her grief through her anger. Dr. Lexie Grey, George's former roommate, took a little time, then helped a patient through the recovery of a surgery that reconnected both her arms and gave her a prosthetic leg. Dr. Cristina Yang, one of George's friends, increased her amount of time in the Operating Room (OR) and consumed herself with Dr. Owen Hunt's therapy, so that he could make enough progress for the two of them to take their relationship to a more physical level. She became a bit of an ass. These characters all represent different types of people we come across every day: our family, our friends, our co-workers, even ourselves. The second episode ends with a bit of knowledge for the audience about grief; wisdom that can help them to understand the process, "That's how you stay alive. When it hurts so much you can't breathe, that's how you survive.....Grief comes in its own time for everyone, in its own way.....The really crappy thing, the worst part, is that you can't control it.....The best we can do is try to feel it when it comes, and let it go when you can.....The very worst part is that the minute you think you've past it, it starts again.....There are five stages of grief, and they look different on all of us. There are always five: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance."

Re: Glenn Greenwald

Although I can undertsnad why GOP Congressman Peter King "didn't feel that the Geneva Conventions 'applies to terrorists,'" I have to disagree with him and support Glenn Greenwald's arguement.
Our country has a Bill Of Rights; I have seen it in it's original form, I have read it, and I know what it means. One of the rights guaranteed in this document is the right to a speedy and fair trial. Unfortunately, when it comes to torture, this basic rights has been violated. Greenwald tells us that "most of all, never mind that King has no idea whether these people are actually "terrorists" because the people we tortured were never given trials, never proven to have done anything wrong, and in many cases were -- as federal courts have repeatedly found and as the CIA IG Report itself recognized -- completely innocent. "
The Bill of Rights also grants us the right to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. When a terrorist is found to be guilty, I am not completely sure where I stand personally on the issue of torture, but when looking at the bigger picture I find that torture is not appropriate. I consider it to be a form of cruel and unusual punishment. There are reasons people commit crimes, and that's what needs to be corrected. Torture is not the way to go- all it does is harm their physical bodies. You want torture? Sentence them to Life in Prison. Create a law that allows it. Sitting in a cell, alone, for at least a month is enough to make someone go crazy. If you put a terrorist in a cell for his/her life, they'll be tortured. They'll be tortured by their own thoughts: remorse, revenge, depression- the types of things no one wants to bear for the rest of their lives.