2012 Resolutions to Keep

Using Facebook and Twitter to better society By [Bette Dewing] Protecting life and health always tops this column"s mission. The tragic Christmas morning Stamford, Conn., fire that killed three young sisters and their maternal grandparents prompts an overdue focus on fire-related danger. While unsafe disposal of fireplace embers was the fire"s reported cause, had smoke detectors been installed in the mansion that was under renovation, it might not have been deadly. The tender age of the three sisters inspired thousands of sympathy â??notes on Facebook. Their grieving uncle wrote, â??What my father [the grandfather who died tried to rescue his granddaughter] would be saying now is â??Keep those smoke detectors in place and working!" Social media would be truly beneficent if such life- and health-saving concerns were more frequent topics. Hopefully they will be, if the girls" devastated parents and other close kindred make fire prevention a worldwide priority. Their bereaved mother, Madonna Badger, is a top New York City ad exec with Badger &Winters, a factor that, along with the age of the three sisters, accounted for the tremendous media coverage that the story received. She has the talent and wherewithal to do just that, as does the girls" father, Matthew Badger. Surely no suffering matches that of one who loses a son or daughter at any age; even when parents are separated, no one else understands their grief as well as the other one does. While it may not mend this marriage, these sorrowing parents can be an unbeatable team working together to honor their beloved daughters and their grandparents, Pauline and Lamar Johnson. Also, remembering the grandparents" recent move east to be near their granddaughters could help the extended family cause. A little-noted fire danger story warns of the enormous dry Christmas tree hazard, which started a recent fire in a Staten Island home. Oh so miraculously, off-duty firefighter Steve Carl was driving by with his family when he spotted the flames and risked his life to rescue three 60-plus residents. A dog sadly died from smoke inhalation. So post this urgent warning on Facebook and Twitter: Get those dry Christmas trees out of the house's pronto! Your neighbor"s, too. Fire officials are agreed that dry fir trees and faulty decorative lights start many fires. But how to stop this diabolical, deliberate murder by fire? I doubt that much (any?) Facebook attention was paid to Lillian Gillespie, 71, who was torched to death in her Brooklyn apartment house elevator by a disgruntled handyman she had befriended. Yet, this mother and grandmother daily lived out her church"s â??love one another commandment at home, with neighbors and former post office colleagues. Her abominable killing so deserves an Occupy-type movement against the epidemic of revenge slayings and entertainment violence's evidenced in yet another new ABC series called Revenge! How long, dear Lord, how long? But here"s the rare movie that can do great good for the elderhood cause; The Iron Lady thankfully includes a hard look at Margaret Thatcher"s elderhood, reflecting the harsh, often cruel and unjust realities of late life in general. A.O.Scott"s New York Times review notes the good fortune of having â??cheery-minded professionals as caregivers, yet Thatcher is mostly alone, sometimes forgetful, with seemingly few visitors. Her daughter comes by sometimes, but â??her twin brother, Mark, unseen in the film, is far away in Africa, the distance emphasizing his mother loneliness and isolation. It"s the commonplace loneliness and isolation of elderhood stories that must get out there's and on Facebook and Twitter, too.   dewingbetter@aol.comˆ