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> Dear group members,
>
> I'm going to take a rather philosophical approach to both war and
> illness in this message.  Please bear with me.  For it's really all of
> our lives -- not only the lives of soldiers and civilians in the
> Middle East -- that are at stake.

> As far back as history has been recorded, we human beings have been
> afflicted by two kinds of attack -- from war and from illness.
> Although "Parkinson's" received its name only about a century ago,
> this condition has probably been around for a long, long time.
> Records from India 5000 years ago speak of people having symptoms that
> very much resemble Parkinson's symptoms.
>
> Although both war and illness are ancient, they are very different, of
> course.  Yet there are something things that they have in common.  For
> example, regardless of its origins, physical suffering really hurts!
> And causes sadness, even desperation sometimes.  A war injury, like an
> illness, affects deeply not only one individual but friends and family
> as well.
>
> I would say -- and I would be interested to know whether others among
> us agree with this -- that a person who has a chronic,
> life-endangering disease -- along with that person's loved ones --
> might be in a better position to grasp profoundly the human costs of
> war.  For those without such personal knowledge of an illness, it's
> easier to remain oblivious.  For example, if one can regard as "other"
> -- as entirely different from oneself -- an "enemy" who is wounded or
> killed in a war, then one can more easily overlook the human costs of
> war, especially if one belongs to the "winning" side, and especially
> if war is fought many thousands of miles from one's own home.  The
> colors of our own flag remind us of our achievements, of our pride in
> self and country -- which may merit the praise we give them, but may
> also contribute to psychological denial of the costs, in terms of
> human bodies ravaged and killed, that a war entails.
>
> Again, as people involved with a condition like PD, we are used to
> this kind of denial of suffering.  We've all met people, I'll bet, who
> really would prefer not get to know us, if we are sick.  And this
> inattention characterizes our society as a whole.  Parkinson's affects
> as many as one and a half million people in this country, and perhaps
> 15 million worldwide. When you take into account close friends and
> family, this number goes way up, since loved ones, as we know so well,
> are also deeply affected by this condition.  Yet, how much public
> attention does PD receive?  How many of society's resources are
> dedicated to its alleviation and cure?
>
> I noted in a previous email that our government has offered to give 15
> billion dollars to Turkey in return for their supporting the war
> against Iraq.  That dollar amount alone is enough to fund biomedical
> research projects, including stem cell research, that would in all
> likelihood within a few years find cures for many diseases, such as
> Parkinson's, juvenile diabetes, Alzheimer's, spinal cord injury, MS,
> ALS.   Our dedication to eradicating disease would help to transform
> the way that people in other parts of the world view our nation.
>
> Let's suppose that we were to take just 10 percent of the $15 billion
> being offered to Turkey -- 1500 million dollars -- and devote that to
> finding a cure for PD.  There is every reason to believe that this
> research effort would find a cure within two or three years.
>
> More money for the military means less money for researching and
> curing conditions like Parkinson's.  And that is why we cannot
> entirely separate what goes on in the larger economic/political world
> from the illnesses that we deal with personally and daily.  Of course
> our focus in this discussion group must remain PD.  Yet we live in a
> world in which, as the saying goes, everything is connected.
>
> I haven't mentioned yet another difference between the big war -- the
> one against Iraq -- and the smaller-scale, more private "war" that we
> wage to cope with illness.  The former is more morale boosting and
> even entertaining.  The war against Iraq, if and when it happens, will
> be a lot like reality TV -- most of us can sit back comfortably (or
> not so comfortably, depending on today's symptoms!) and watch the
> bombs fall, as generals explain to us the operations they are carrying
> out to wipe out the enemy.  (Actually, I've got a stepson who is in
> the army in Kuwait right now, which makes me nervous.)  And even for
> those of us who have PD -- well, a war will provide some distraction,
> if nothing else.
>
> If we cannot eradicate the problem with our own bodies, well (so it
> might seem), at least we can eradicate evil elsewhere.   The impending
> war is an adventure that might momentarily take our minds off our
> needs here in this country -- for better health care, more biomedical
> research, a safer and cleaner environment, less poverty, etc.
> According to the script for this adventure story, Saddam caused 9-11,
> and so now we have to destroy him.  Never mind that, in fact, 9-11
> terrorists came from Saudi Arabia, not from Iraq, that Osama bin Laden
> and Saddam Hussein despise one another, that North Korea poses a far
> greater threat to the world's security than does Iraq.  We can't let
> facts like these interrupt the story line, nor let the pressing needs
> we have here at home get in the way of building and deploying bigger
> and better military weaponry all over the world....  Or can we?
>
> Unlike a war, the patient building of international institutions and
> law to resolve in non-violent ways the kinds of conflict that inflame
> the Middle East isn't a headline-capturing adventure.  But it's the
> only path that can work to establish a terrorism-free, secure world.
> With the resources that we free up by containing America's
> out-of-control military budget, we can find cures for physical
> illnesses, PD among them.
>
> Increasing the general public's awareness of diseases like PD, and of
> the medical research we need to cure these diseases, is the aim of the
> organization I volunteer for: http://www.stemcellaction.org (which, by
> the way, has no particular political orientation).  Several members of
> this discussion group have sent us your "portrait" to be posted to the
> web.  But a good number of you have not.  Please lend us (and
> yourselves) a hand.  The portraits can be viewed at:
> http://www.sabr.us/portraits.htm
>
> Blessings to all,
>

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> Raymond Barglow