DEAR COLLEAGUES
I do believe the terms "action" and "politicians" & "action" and "form
letter" are oxymorons. However the term "acton" and the phrase "good
writing" are not unless they are contained in a form letter and then they
revert to an oxymoron. Unless a congressperson receives thousands of form
letters he will not open his eyes to see them; let alone open his/her mind.
PWP are by the virtue of their illness and perhaps their predisposition to
such an illness are incapable of sending thousands of letters.
So do I have anything constructive to say? I think so but you will
have to decide for yourself. A "good" letter contains 3 ingredients;
personal information, subject information and passion. The letter can be
long or short and contain all 3 ingredients. When the Udall bill was
originally written it contained a listing of who would benifit from fetal
tissue research and this list included children with burns, individuals with
diabetes and transplant candidates including PWP.
Very few PWP picked up on this fact when one of the things we could
have done was to ally ourselves with these other subgroups. If you ever
want to get a politicians attention ( and likely his wrath) send him a
picture of a burned child.
A full 50% of the members of my support group have computers with
e-mail and Internet capability.Our goal for the next year is to get 100% of
our membership at least familiar with these functions. We believe we can get
computers for everyone and teach them how to use them.
And do we have stories to tell! One member died from cancer, 2 others
had recent cancer surgery, 2 more had total knee replacement surgery, one
member who needed a brain shunt, at least 2 others who have reached a
critical stage with their PD and several others showing the wear and tear of
their PD. And there are positive stories as well. One member who appeared to
be at an end stage taken off all drugs (gradually)only to find himself to be
without PD. He is now back to swimming 5 days a week and driving his car!
Another who is taking horseback riding and buggy driving lessons. I could go on.
Too many of us PWP want to be feed and have grown passive to their
health and welfare. Our support group wants to change that and will do so!!
thank you
george
"It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and
remove all doubt."
--Mark Twain
