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Dennis, and All... I hope you won't consider this a matter of mere word-play , but I looked up the words "anger" and "bitter" in my dictionary because what I see so many of us PWPs living with and embracing is the latter, rather than the former of the two emotions. Personally, I got over my anger at what had gone wrong with my body many years ago. I accept the fact I have Parkinson's Disease and am fully aware of all that THAT encompasses. And initially, I was a very angry person. However, after 23 years of accommodating to the vagaries of PD, I put the anger to rest years ago. Getting rid of my sense of bitterness as the disease forces me to remember, on a daily basis, that IT'S in charge of my body has been a MUCH tougher inner struggle. I believe it's the BITTERNESS so many of us get caught up in.... that bitterness we feel while we continue to lose bits and pieces of ourselves as the years go by... the bitterness we feel as we see so many of our dreams and plans fall by life's wayside 'cause we're no longer capable of doing or them... the bitterness some of us single Parkies feel at being a single a disease like PD - causing many single PWPs to envision a lonely future devoid of a loving partner. It's the BITTERNESS that's grinding away at the heart and soul of many Parkies, Dennis, and THAT'S almost a worse problem than Parkinson's itself. Read on for definition of "bitterness": Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] BITTERNESS: 3. Difficult or distasteful to accept, admit, or bear: the bitter truth; bitter sorrow. 4. Proceeding from or exhibiting strong animosity: a bitter struggle; bitter foes. 5. Resulting from or expressive of severe grief, anguish, or disappointment: cried bitter tears. 6. Marked by resentment or cynicism: "He was already a bitter elderly man with a gray face" (John Dos Passos). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved. -----Original Message----- From: Dennis Greene <[log in to unmask]> To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN <[log in to unmask]> Date: Sunday, October 18, 1998 9:54 AM Subject: Re: Do not go gentle...... >Barbara Rager, > >" Do not go gentle into that good night, >Rage, rage against the dying of the light" > >How appropriate a choice of quote. It is of course the closing two lines of >Dylan Thomas' poem and it refers specifically to dying. In the opening >stanza the same two lines are interspersed with "Old age should burn and >rave at close of day". All of which goes to the heart of my very real >concern. We are not dying, some of us are quite young, and many of us of >all ages are very much alive. It worries me to see people talking as if >their life was ending when in fact it has just been changed. It worries me >to see people stuck - yes I'll say it again, stuck - in the anger stage of >the grieving process for as long as Marling seems to have been. It worries >me most of all when anger is being portrayed as preferable to acceptance. >Of course we have to experience anger. We also need to move past it if we >are to achieve emotional health. If we get stuck in the anger stage we >don't need someone to validate it we need someone to bring this to our >attention so that we can get help. > >I am sorry that you have chosen to interpret my attempt to do this for >Marling as something negative. > >Dennis. > >+++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >Dennis Greene 48/onset 32 /dx 37 > >"It is better to be a crystal and be broken, >Than to be a perfect tile upon the housetop." > >[log in to unmask] >http://members.networx.net.au/~dennisg/ >+++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >