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my dear raylene, it's not many mornings that i would do this, but i must beg to differ with your opinion of Muhammed Ali-not with the "sport" of boxing; but with the man himself. Muhammed Ali has been to me, a constant source of inspiration and truly deserves the title of "greatest of all time." like the Pope, he need not say one word about pd-but living out his life under the constant scrutiny of cameras and the glare of publicity, he presents to us all a lesson in how to live your life with pd in grace, kindness, and sincerity with out giving up any of the charisma that got him where he is today. it's been told that Fidel Castro cannot stand Ali because Fidel is so used to being the center of attention and when Ali visited Cuba, Fidel was furious at being upstaged by this silent, shaking man. Ali, his wife Lonnie and their daughter who runs and fundraisers for pd on the TeamParkinson's, are all wonderful albeit sometimes behind the scenes activists for pd and his star-studded fundraisers touch the people whom i and other grass roots activists could never reach; for example, just several weeks ago, Shaquille O'Neal anted up a considerable amount at an auction for pd hosted by Ali and got several other high profile people to match his bid. (of course now, after taking the newspaper clipping around with me for weeks, i cannot find the darn thing when i need it!!) and who can ever forget the achingly poignant sight of a bowed but not defeated; shaking but not surrendering, trembling but triumphant Ali lighting the Olympic Torch , oh how long ago?? some people, i feel can lead better by example and Ali has set a fine one. Last year, we sent him a pair of boxing gloves and asked him to sign them for my Shake, Rattle & Roll raffle and nearly fell outta my chair when ups came with the return package only a few days later...signed, sealed, delivered!! i have yet to hear of him turning down a reasonable request. i think that we do an injustice to our famous parkies when we pin on them the hopes and goals of an entire community. i believe that Ali, like MJFox, JReno, the Pope, and all the other famous and not-so-famous among us are just what they are-people trying to live with this lousy disease and to make each day count. -- Joan E. Blessington Snyder 51/13 http://www.pwnkle.com/jes/jes_web/index.htm <[log in to unmask]> "Hang tough...........no way through it but to do it." Chris-in-the-Morning (Northern Exposure) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn