Hello,

      I have been checking the list periodicly for some time, and before 
recent events at the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon, in regard to the 
topics of the postings which appear and the proper content of those postings 
pursuant to the list owners' guidelines on list content.  I used to be a 
lawyer, and I find the topic of list content to be particularly interesting 
to me.  I have been aware of this list for less than a year;  I have been 
diagnosed with PD for almost four years. 
 
       I think everyone should say what he/she wants to say about the current 
upheavel in our lives and strive for ways for us to integrate that 
upheavel/minimize that upheavel into our daily lives.  Everything should be 
allowed from Camilla's heartfelt, Quaker teachings to the 
root-'em-out-anniliate-'em approach of several others.  I normally would 
agree with Camilla, but these are not normal times, and I struggle because I 
do not think we, as a people, as a government, should take lives to avenge 
these lives no matter how extreme the circumstances.  

      My background?  My perspective?  My father came from an Irish Catholic 
family of 13 children, seven boys, where military service was highly prized.  
My mother came from a family where her grandfather escaped conscription into 
the Swedish army by emigrating, surreptitiously at night, to the United 
States.  Two of her three brothers served in World War II; the third brother 
was too young for World War II.  I have three brothers, all of the age to 
have served in Viet Nam, but none of them did: one did not pass the induction 
physical and the other two received high numbers in the lottery.  

       My father, a World War !! veteran, did not want any of his sons to 
serve in Viet Nam.  I did not want any of my brothers to go to Nam either, 
but my father surprised me one day by announcing that "we," my father and I, 
would take my oldest brother to Canada if my brother wanted to go.  I also 
knew my brother wanted, desperately wanted, at that time, to go to war, to go 
to Nam.  My mother was angry that my father suggested such a thing when the 
government had already ordered my brother to report for induction.  Everyone 
disagreed, and argued, for weeks, and, then, in the end, the U.S. Army would 
not take my brother and his flat feet and his hip deformities.  By the time 
my other two brothers were subject to the lottery, we had seen too many young 
men in the family and in the neighborhood die over there or come back changed 
forever, and no one wanted my younger brothers to go to war.  

      I understand that there needs to be some form of retaliation, some 
means of stopping such terrorism as we have seen in the past week, but I do 
not want to go to war, I do not want to send young people to war.  I 
appreciate, I am interested in the discussions of these terrorism- and 
war-related issues on the list.  The one topic/s which has not been discussed 
as part of this World Trade Center/terrorism discussion on this PD list, and 
this seems to be a glaring omission to me, is that every one of us with PD, 
every one of us diagnosed with PD, experiences an increase in, an 
exacerbation of symptoms under stress.  Under normal circumstances none of us 
needs to receive or to read offensive, inflammatory, derogatory postings 
(even if we have posted similiar postings about others in the past).  Under 
these extraordinary circumstances, with the horrible, horrible events of this 
past week, and the prospects of war looming over our heads, we should take 
precautions to protect ourselves and our other PWPs from the effects of such 
stress. 

        We should be able to express our opinions and viewpoints on this PD 
list without hurting each other or causing each other stress.  I would find 
the discussion of the world trade center events itself less stressful if a 
few rules were acknowledged and enforced such as: refraining from making 
personal, offensive, derogatory comments and attacks on others; 
understanding, tolerating, and forgiving the excesses, the misjudgements, and 
the  mistakes of  other PWPs; and waiting and thinking, using the "Mail to be 
Sent Later" function on our e-mail before quickly replying to others and 
"shooting from the hip" or "off the cuff."  

      I think I, like everyone else, want to see on my PC a reflection of 
what I believe, what I find interesting, but PWP are very diverse and have 
very diverse opinions and viewpoints as exemplied on this list in the past 
few days.  And I would like everyone to be more circumspect, more 
descriptive, about the titles to their postings   And I would like the PWP on 
the list to realize that postings that say only:  I agree with so-and-so on 
this-and-that and other personal messages do not belong on the entire list 
itself.  But, I do think we all should be allowed to say, within those few 
rules, whatever we want whenever we want.  The prospect, the threat of war, 
is all-consuming, and, for the stress aspect alone, merits being regarded as 
a PD-related topic and proper discussion for this list.  We need to make room 
for everyone on the list and not to censure or stop the expression of 
viewpoints and opinions with which we do not agree.  Katie    

       

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