Hi Dennis;
I read your post and I also identify pretty strongly with what you
said. I looked at all the shell letters offered as a starting point
but there really was nothing there to inspire this "foreigner".
> Somewhere in the old testament (Job?) it says that "there is nothing new
> under the sun". The French have a related saying, usually expressed in
> English as ""the more things change, the more they stay the same". Anyone
> doubting the basic truths behind these timeworn statements need only look to
> the internet and e-mail to have them reconfirmed. Wonderful as this "new"
> thing is it is still just people communicating and we bring to it our oldest
> possession - human nature. Take our own list for example. It is human
> nature which gives us the highest moments on this list and also our lowest.
> It is human nature to call for one and all to join in the campaign to have
> the Udall funds made available. It is human nature to extend the invitation
> to non US citizens to add their voice to the push. It is also human nature
> to forget that the whole matter of "foreign " involvement in US political
> affairs was debated at some length last year during the campaign to have the
> bill passed.
>
> The sheer guts and determination of our US listmembers in organising
> themselves to get that bill funded is one of the highpoints of this list.
> It is a high profile matter and rightly so - but to suggest, on the strength
> of a poor response to the call for foreign involvement, that the United
> States is the only place where PD activism is alive and well and that "the
> American people do it all for the rest of the world" is, to say the least, a
> bit extreme, not to mention inaccurate. Worst of all it is unfair and
> belittles the unsung efforts of thousands of people across the world. It is
> also indicative of a degree of insularity coming as it does so soon after
> the world launch of Activa DBS therapy, a French innovation using hardware
> developed in Australia by Medtronics.
>
> Finally, I would like to say that when I read the call to contribute, I sat
> here at my keyboard once more looking for the form of words that would
> enable me to comply with the request to join in. As I wrote I realised
> that if I was writing in similar circumstances to my own Member of
> Parliament, I would be:
>
> - asking him/her why my letter was necessary?
>
> - wanting to know why a vote to pass the bill was not automatically
> followed by a vote in favour of funding it?
>
> - saying that in my view anybody who voted for the bill with no intention
> of funding it was guilty of an act of callous manipulation perpetrated at
> the expense of a particularly vulnerable sector of society.
>
> - suggesting that voting for the bill carried a moral requirement to fund
> it; and finally...
>
> - ...I would be saying that I would actively work against the re-election
> of any MP who, having voted for the bill, voted against funding it.
>
> To write in such vein to a US Congressman who neither represents me nor is
> answerable to me is at best pointless, at worst offensive. I closed the
> letter, deleted it, and moved on. It is not just for politicians that
> "politics is the art of the achievable"
>
> Dennis.
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Dennis Greene 48/11
> [log in to unmask]
> http://members.networx.net.au/~dennisg/
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
Then I scribbled something out of my head that expressed the way I
often feel and the post "one lucky Canadian" was spawned.
Here it is for you and others to read.
Date sent: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 20:45:25 -0700
Hi Gail;
I've read all the shell letters both on the List & on The new
ParkinsonAlliance site but somehow this whole thing is a struggle. I
don't feel that I can just sign a shell....nope, wouldn't fit.
I 'bin scribblin'. Is this of any value???
A Tale of One "Lucky" Canadian
I'm a lucky Canadian. I spent the first 49 years of my being in the
good life aboard the SS Abundant Health, as did most Canadians and
most Americans. In 1994 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and
that day my metaphorical ship began to founder. Now I'm treading
water with 100,000 other Canadians and with 1,500,000 neighbor
Americans, all Parkinsonian victims of the sunken SS Abundant Health.
They tell us we're still lucky. Other ships in the Health fleet are
also going under every day. The people with Cancer don't swim well
and the people with Aids not only don't swim but are in shark infested
waters. The drug companies have flown over and dropped a variety of
Life Rings for all of us to cling to while we impatiently await a
rescue. The newest Tasmar, Requip, and Mirapex rings are nice but
they don't fit everyone and the reality is that they only prolong the
inevitable. We don't feel particularly lucky.
Then last year we heard about a strong majority in the US Congress
authorizing the Morris K. Udall Bill with a potential CURE for
Parkinson's in the next 5 years. Maybe we are a little luckier than
we thought. We were so buoyed up treading water became that much
easier. (In our minds we could picture the mighty Missourri pulling
alongside, decks lined with gleaming life boats all labelled UDALL and
all designated for we Parkinsonians. Though I'm a Canadian, I held
great hopes we would surely not be left alone.)
Now months later our dreams are fading. The boats have not been
launched. Apparently the "system" dictates Udall boats may only be
appropriated through yet another "process". The appropriations group
may eventually launch all the authorized boats, or a few token boats,
or no boats at all!! They may decide to repaint the Udall boats for
some other group or simply save them for another time!!
We no longer feel the least bit lucky. The Missourri is gone now,
the sun has set, and the chill of stark reality is upon us as we
appear abandoned in darkness to drift alone. We will tire, we will
fall victim to depression, we will experience our life rings water
logging, we will succomb before our time. Gone are thoughts of
awakening to dry land (a CURE) and grandchildren and jobs or
retirement or ....
The Appropriations committee has our futures in the palms of their
hands. I pray the American Congress will hear the cries of 1,500,000
loyal Americans and one lucky Canadian. I pray they will see fit to
launch every last Udall boat, all 100,000,000! I pray the US Congress
will once again set an example unparallelled by the rest of the world.
Please fund the Udall Bill in the full amount for the next 5 years.
Murray Charters
Vancouver, B.C.
PS: I forgot to mention those Aids guys musta got first dibs on the
flares..........
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