STEM CELL BATTLES
See that empty wheelchair? We who fight for embryonic stem cell research
believe that wheelchairs are for temporary occupancy only. We do not accept
the diagnosis of "incurable", given to more than one hundred million
Americans with cancer, paralysis, Alzheimer's, AIDS, diabetes, MS, and more.
We are America's millions: patients, family, and friends. We support
research to bring cures, to empty the wheelchairs everywhere.

274 Monday, January 1, 2007  -  THE ONLY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION
We are going to a New Year's Eve party, Gloria said. She asked me very
nicely, of course, as always leaving me my dignity, implying there was an
element of choice.
My opinion on parties?  As a song in "My Fair Lady" put it, "I'd be equally
as willing for the dentist to be drilling".
To stand around in small groups making small talk? Idle chit-chat,
conversation for no purpose except fun. in such situations, I generally just
nod my head and smile till my cheeks hurt, like a person who does not speak
the language.
Also I clutch onto Gloria's sleeve. "Don't leave," I hiss through clenched
teeth (smiling, remember?) if she tries to get away. (Gloria is Ms. Party
Animal, she can make fun out of doing dishes.)
Unless, of course, you want to talk movies. There, I am totally happy, and
Gloria can zip off to the next cluster of friends while I babble cheerfully
away about useless stuff like:
East of Borneo, 1928, directed by pre-Dracula Carl Laemmle, has a stunningly
realistic depiction of a man chased by crocodiles.
The poor guy is actually doing pretty well, zipping along the surface with
enthusiasm, alligators and crocodiles right behind him. It looks like he
might actually get away.
"Look on the other side of the river," giggles the evil villain (they always
laugh a lot, those villains)-and you see about a hundred more crocodiles
slithering into the water.
What follows is amazing. Not the usual, "Aieeee!" and the stunt double is
yanked under water by his breath-holding buddy, and the female lead covers
her face-o.
You see-or think you see-a man in the water surrounded by crocodiles, on
every side. There is a moment of panic on the man's part, as the beasts
close in, and then-acceptance. There is nothing he can do, and he seems to
relax and accept his fate.
An instant's hesitation, an actual intimacy between him and those about to
dine-then the crocodilians shift their attention to each other, like
establishing the social dynamic, "You first, I insist, oh, no, please, after
you-".
and then the biggest creature lunges .
I have no idea how they did it. 1928, no computer graphics (no
computers)-and even in those pre-code days, I doubt there were many extras
were willing to be eaten, so how--
Anyway, if you like old movie chit-chat, sit next to me.
Most people, however, have only a passing interest in movies made several
decades before they were born. Besides, at parties, one is occasionally
expected to participate.
"Games," says Gloria, "We're going to play games! There will be games!"
I feel about games the way Scrooge used to feel about Christmas. "Bah,
humbug!"
I am just not equipped for games, they left it out of my programming.
Arm wrestling? I used to be pretty good at that-but nowadays I might get my
arm broken by some overexcited Senior citizen. Back off, Granny!
And then my mind jumped back to where I had just spent six hours.
Waiting on the car to be fixed.
"Oh, it'll just be another hour-maybe two-really, I mean it this time; we're
close, all we have to do is replace the radiator, on account of we
accidentally broke it-"...
I thought I was prepared. I had brought the December version of the CIRM
scientific plan, to struggle with it for the 60-90 minutes the car repair
folks had first estimated.
But my small brain can only handle so much input at one time. So I called
Gloria up, and she came and got me, and we went and saw "Night at the
 Museum"-which was, well, okay.
But first I did my New Year's Resolutions.

It was pretty grim.

For me, all resolutions boil down to "be less lazy", which is not high on my
list of fun things- let's see, gather arguments for the Stem Cell Research
Enhancement Act, organize the central mountain of paper in my study so I can
open the door without knocking stuff over, do more stomach work to try and
lose the Christmas blubber--yawwwwn.
Then it hit me-- what if we could make New Year's Resolutions for somebody
else?
Like the Energizer Bunny, that cartoon rabbit with cymbals and a drum, that
keeps going and going and going?
"Off a cliff with you, sir!" (Or madam, the gender of televised pink rabbits
is not always certain)-"or at least quit banging that drum for a while".
New Year's Resolutions for other people-what a concept!
Naturally I think in terms of movies, first:
Jim Carrey-he should resolve to remake "Il Monstruo", a comedy originally
done by Roberto Benigni. "Il Monstruo" is my pick for funniest movie of all
time. (If you want to watch it, pick a time when you are not recovering from
surgery. Even with subtitles, I guarantee you will laugh until you risk your
stitches.)
Cameron Diaz-she should gain weight or get wrinkly or something-- and not be
so incredibly gorgeous, so Gloria will stop hitting me in the shoulder when
I see her in the movies.
And then I feel the muscles on my face turn slack, as when one hears
something serious.
George Bush. what if we could make a New Year's Resolution for the
President?
I know what it would be, of course. He should re-think his position on stem
cells.

The President has pledged to re-think Iraq, to look on it with "fresh eyes",
as he put it.
It would mean so much, if he could do that for stem cells.
I don't like to think of the President as an obstacle.

He should be on our side, to lead us forward into better days.
Nowhere is there a better place to start than with stem cell research.
All he would have to do is just not veto the Stem Cell Research Enhancement
Act.
We know he always puts little messages on the bills he signs, saying he does
not promise to abide by this or that-maybe he could say, he signs the Stem
Cell Research Act with the same reservations he feels about accepting a
Democrat-controlled Congress-he disagrees with it 100%-- but it is the
people's will.

He could say his personal religious convictions prohibit him from
participating: that he himself could never use a cure made from the
research, but that he would not use his powers to stand in the way of a
chance to bring hope to suffering millions.

Think what it could mean-every state in the Union able to work on the giant
problems affecting us all-a nation united in the fight for cure.
Health care prices going down, down, down-- instead of up, up, up-because we
are fixing people, making them better, not just maintaining them in misery.
Children suffering will have a chance to get better. I think of my little
buddy Pranav, three years old. Pranav has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and even
a simple cold threatens his life.
I think about my friend, Fred H., whose mother no longer recognizes him. She
has Alzheimer's, as does the mother of Bob Klein.
Maybe one day, old people will live out their days-our days-in the dignity
of full control of our faculties, diminished, yes, but living richly, with
never the fear of being a burden, knowing we are valued and participating
persons all the way.
And never again will a doctor have to say, to a paralyzed young man in a
hospital: there is nothing that can be done.

I am dreaming, sure-- I know I cannot get the President to agree with my New
Year's resolution for him.

None of us can do any more than to pledge our own efforts.
But that much we can do, and maybe the results will be more than we can
imagine.
And so, dear friends, with the battle for the Stem Cell Research Act before
us, just a few days left until it is raised in Congress, I raise my glass
and propose the only true New Year's Resolution, the only one that matters,
from which all others spring.
I give you the words of George Orwell's talking horse in the classic book
ANIMAL FARM. The other animals made fun of him, and he was definitely taken
advantage of; but to me he was noble, pure-hearted, clean: he was the hero
of the book. For every crisis, every problem, he always had one answer, one
slogan, one promise:
"I will work harder," said the horse.
That is what we need this year: just a little more labor, a couple extra
chores every week, that tiny bit of extra effort to push us over the top.
May 2007 be the year of the horse.
Happy New Year, everyone.
By Don C. Reed, Chair, Californians for Cures, www.stemcellbattles.com.

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