SJS.......

Raising money for PD research seems to be a priorty with Dale.  He's tried in
several different ways to light a flame under the member of this group and to
keep it burning in the face of apathy and loss of interest by our collective
membership.

While Dale has created a light-handed approach in getting funds donated THIS
time, I assure you that having read all his prior messages on this topic that
he takes the issue of Parkinson's in all it's nouances VERY seriously.  If
everyone was as dedicated to stopping this miserable disease in it's tracks as
Dale so obviously is, we would ALL benefit.

Personally, I appreciate Dale's "We'll throw it in the water and see if it
floats" approach.   He's being CREATIVE!

I also appreciate YOUR feelings and thoughts, as well as your dedication to
erradicting PD, SJS.... And I suspect that your thoughts on THIS issue aren't
so very far from Dales.  You both CARE...

GO FOR IT, DALE!!

Barb Mallut
[log in to unmask]

----------
From:   PARKINSN: Parkinson's Disease - Information Exchange Network on behalf
of SJS-OnTheNet
Sent:   Sunday, December 15, 1996 12:58 PM
To:     Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN
Subject:        Re: Dale Severance's offer to donate $$ to "Parkson Action
   Network" (See PARKINSN Digest - 13 Dec 1996 to 14 Dec 1996):

Dear PD Digest:

In reading the above edition of Parkinson's Digest, I came across a posting
in which the above-mentioned person offers (if I've read it correctly; please
forgive me if I've misunderstood) to donate $100 to the "Parkson Action
Network" (sic) IF anyone on this Listserv can solve three riddles -- i.e.,
attach to three given quotations to the correct names of the speakers.

I must say that while I feel that donating money to the cause of finding a
cure or effective palliatives for Parkinson's is certainly important and
welcome, I take offense at what appears to me to be an insensitivity
conveyed by the above-mentioned posting vis-a-vis (a) the feelings of
persons afflicted with PD, (b) the feelings of their care-givers, and
(c) the desperate need for funds & other support for research into
controlling and eliminating this terrible affliction.

Although, in the "real world", the motivating-force behind the providing
of resources to conquer PD may originate either with, among other things,
a compassionate heart, a desire to reap heightened professional recognition,
or, in some of the corporate world, a desire to maximize financial profit,
I personally believe that an offer of "help" (even *assuming* that the offer
is geniune) in any form should NOT be contorted into a "GAME" -- and a
"teasing" form of game, at that.

The form of "game" conveyed in the PD-posting -- i.e., to paraphrase my
recollection of it, "Guess who said these 3 items, and I'll donate $100 to a
PD-cause" -- is, I think, highly insensitive to we who either are afflicted
with PD or care for someone close to us who has PD.

This form of "game", it seems to me, is akin to a doctor standing at a
patient's bedside and telling the patient (who may be suffering terribly,
both physiologically and emotionally), "If you can just solve these three
riddles, I'll give you some medication that may help you feel better".

Worse, the doctor is then adding, "But you must solve these 3 riddles by
the date of _____, or I won't offer you this medication at all!"

On top of that, it seems to me that to make the donation of support
CONTINGENT on sufferers solving a set of whimsical riddles DEMEANS the
seriousness and deep importance --

   (a) of the urgent need to conquer this disease,

   (b) of the need to provide solace and support for care-givers and those
who have PD, and

   (c) of the need to effectively persuade all those persons and
organizations (Congress included!) who can possibly help in the
eradication of PD that this NOT a flippant issue, and is NOT to be
lightly dismissed or "put on the back burner", and that the war to
conquer PD MUST be attended to in all haste and diligence and WON.

Having said the above, I must grant the possibility that I have simply
misinterpreted what M. Severance was trying to represent in his posting.
Perhaps, I grant, it was all meant as an effort to spread some
light-heartedness around -- which is an enviable goal -- and to do some
good at the same time -- also an admirable goal. And if I've
misunderstood what was conveyed in the above-mentioend posting, I
apologize.

However, may I suggest that if someone has a TRUE desire to help fight
this battle to end PD, and wishes TRULY to contribute funds or resources
toward that goal, then please just CONTRIBUTE it -- and perhaps feel the
grandeur of spirit that doing it THAT WAY can bring to the heart and soul.

-- SJS (caregiver)
   12/15/96
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