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In a message dated 98-11-10 18:29:04 EST, you write: << We may be on the proverbial slippery slope becoming more and more the society of death. Who will protect all of us Parkinsonians from those who think we are becoming too costly for the system to bear. We may find ourselves targeted for death without our permission. Our best opportunity to reverse this trend is having more respect for all life. >> I disagree with some of your message and I agree with some. The above paragraph stirred a thought that followes a differant path than the train of thought your message expressed. But it's a thought I'd like to express by this, my response. I for one am not as worried about being the target for death without permission, as I am about being kept alive against my will - imprisoned by my own body - like Mo Udall has been foe several years now. And like so many PWP' are that we don't even know. I agree, our best opportunity, no..'our greatest need' is to cling to any little bit of respect we can - our human dignity, from the grip of PD for as long as we can. The clock is ticking.. We have not done anything to deserve getting PD. But the PD monster seems to enjoy stripping us, inch by inch,of our human dignity, encouraging non-PD society to treat us as less worthy, or we are passed over, or put away--- there is a oss of respect for the life of a PWP. We must coninue to try to educate others about the disease. However, consequences of societal rejection are not limited to rejection by the non-PD community. Some of us 'Udall Bill Advocates" have - not meaning to - exploited "one of our own". So many of us, somehow managed to do alot of things in the name of "the Udall Bill".But it seems, not meaning to, we have forgotten Mo Udall the person. Mo Udall -. It took him his lifetime to earn his good reputation, his "good name" --- his good name that his family permitted us to use - when we had no one else, with whom the public could relate, who would stand by us, when we had little reason for hope. I suppose this is just a long-winded way of asking "What are we doing to express our respect and gratitude to Mo Udall and his family for all they've done. The gift of hope is a gift of life to some of us.. Mo Udall and his family deserve letters of thanks from us. If permited, some of us might individually visit Mo in his hospital room. Maybe, just maybe, he might hear us. He might somehow understand that we are grateful to him and to his family for having given us an avenue to take, a means to fight back, to organize, to reach out and to beecome friends with our 'parkie' family, and to respect each other and understand each other when the non-PD world doesm't anymore. Maybe, just maybe, we can show our respect and our love for a man most of us have never met.. but to whom we owe so much. Maryhelen