Good afternoon from snow-covered coastal Maine,
Our diversity as a PD community can make us wiser and stronger.
Four of my greatest role models are Olympic gold and silver medal-winners
Another is an Archbishop. I search for heroes and ("she-roes"), so that I
can struggle against Parkinson's Disease with images of greatness to
emulate.
First on my list is gold medal winner and boxer, PWP Muhammad Ali.
Three recent Olympian heroes, for me, are Canadian Time magazine cover
man, Brian Tewksbury (gold medal, 100-meter backstroke, 1992; and bronze
medal, 4x100-meter medley, 1992, silver medal, relay, 1988);
Canadian skater Brian Orser (silver medal, twice, figure skating; 1987
world figure-skating champion); and Olympian American diver, Greg
Louganis (gold medalist, and author).
All three recent competitors are gay men.
I am competing to outwit and overcome Parkinson's Disease, as long as I
can. My gayness gives me gifts of resilience and of caring for both my
gay brothers, and for my Parkinsnon's-afflicted friends and extended
family, parts of my life I rarely disclose on Parkinson's List posts.
Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a spiritual role model for me. On
Martin Luther King Day he preached at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta,
Georgia, where he currently is a visiting professor at Emory University.
He included our lesbian sisters with us in his sermon, because we must be
strong
spiritually to endure. He described how when we are discovered, we are
vulnerable to attack. He called for all of God's children to be
embraced.
Matthew Shepard was thought to be a scarecrow when he was found dying on
a fencepost in Wyoming this past year. I hope to register my mark as
part of a PD community that learns to celebrate its diversity fully,
where my gayness will offer strengths and talents to the PD community.
Ivan Mfowethu Suzman 49/39/36
February 3, 1999 2:40 PM
Portland, Maine USA
