I hate this disease. I always think of Fred when I have my morning coffee. I promised him I would because he was having his alone.
Gayle

Thank you all for these gorgeous tributes to Fred. I wish he could have known how loved and respected he was while he was alive. Perhaps he did. He made a tremendous impact on us all.

Judith

I am sitting at my computer in the middle of the night weeping over the death of a man I did not know, but who represents the fate of each of us.

I remember reading Death Be Not Proud, so many decades ago, and feeling Johnny's father's pain as he searched for some good reason why his son had an incurable brain tumor. Johnny knew early on that he had little time to accomplish what he wanted to do, and fought valiantly to the end. Lke us, Johnny was continually reminded that his body, mind, and memory were failing him and there is no way to sugar coat that.

How many more of us must die before we say enough already? If there's going to be a cure for PD in the proverbial 5 to 10 years, we're going to have to make it happen by demanding change in a system that has failed us to date. Finding a cure for PD is not just about us, but about ensuring that our children and grandchildren will not suffer the same fate.

In the words of Dylan Thomas, "Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Sheryl

Do you remember Carl Sagan's address, and in it's content he says how foolish we seem, us collective humanity, with all of our foibles, to assume that we have any pre-eminance in this vast universe; us, based on a shimmering dust mote in the middle of space-time, at no particularly significant place?
Well, even though I loved Carl Sagan (and his wife Ann Druyan), and all that they contributed to "pushing" modern Science to greater depths, heights and overall greater general understanding for the "common person", I still think that Carl (and Ann) missed something by a little bit, and that is the indominatable (sp?) spirit of the human race.
We still fight against the dying of the light, and refuse to accept the total nothingness of our mortal existence. We have faith that each and every one of us has a "reason for being", even with the knowledge of our son or daughter or other young or otherwise loved one dying an early, always untimely death, apparently with their "dreams" unfullfilled.
Even while questioning the reasons why great destroyers of human life are still created amongst us, and the imponderable reasons for the most disgusting acts committed against humankind by other humans were and are "allowed" to happen, with the assumed guidance of an omniscient God of our belief; we still believe that we have a colllective "grand" reason to be allowed to continue on, and have an unseen destiny that remains as surely as time will travel forward in our concept of it, to guide us there, before the extinction of our entire race.
Forgive me of my opinion that we "do matter" and that we have some "grand purpose" for it is all that I have come to believe the more i study the small part of the history of humankind that is extant in our possession.
In other words, why should we assume that we even "deserve" a cure for our particular ailments? Surely, we suffer and die, and it's painful and it's lonely for each one of us , seemingly trapped in a body that undergoes it's own personal evolution. Does it even "matter" that PD should be "cured"? ASk anyone who doesn't have PD or whose life will never be touched by PD and who will never even have heard the words, or have any inkling of what it is.
Well, it DOES MATTER to us. And what applies to us in general, applies to ALL people in general. Sure, in spite of our collective insignificance in the universe , we are meaningless, but on a local level there is great need to right the wrongs of life and heal the bodies and spirits of every organism that lives here on this dust mote. So who will perform the deeds that will eliminate the twisted, unfair, suffering of the masses, here on earth? Well, it will come from the same tortured individuals. And for what reasons? Perhaps among them will be the aquisition of wealth for wordly pleasure, fame for the ego, or just plain "drive" to "do something good"; an attitude that springs forth from our genetic strands like the existence of the precious elements for the building of society. Our saviors will come from us. The saviors of humanity will come from us. Death is but an illusion, a reality, but an illlusion. Suffering is real, but neccessary. Without death and suffering, evolution becomes stagnant and existence really does become meaningless, for without it, there is no chance to grow, no reason to continue.
So, with those words, that are incomprehensible to even the author; plunge ahead, live life to it's fullest; fight for your right to exist relatively unharmed by others, and hope that it all has some meaning. --

Do you remember Carl Sagan's address, and in it's content he says how foolish we seem, us collective humanity, with all of our foibles, to assume that we have any pre-eminance in this vast universe, us, based on a shimmering dust mote in the middle of space-time?
Well, even though I loved Carl Sagan (and his wife Ann Druyan), and all that they contributed to "pushing" modern Science to greater depths, heights and overall greater general understanding for the "common person", I still think that Carl (and Ann) missed something by a little bit, and that is the indominatable (sp?) spirit of the human race.
We still fight against the dying of the light, and refuse to accept the total nothingness of our mortal existence. We have faith that each and every one of us has a "reason for being", even with the knowledge of our son or daugter or other young or otherwise loved one dying an early, always untimely death, apparently with their "dreams" unfullfilled.
Even while questioning the reasons why great destroyers of human life are still created amongst us, and the imponderable reasons for the most disgusting acts committed against humankind, by humans were and are "allowed" to happen, with the assumed guidance of the omniscient God of our belief; we still believe that we have a colllective "grand" reason to be allowed to continue on, and have an unseen destiny that remains as surely as time will travel forward in our concept of it, to guide us there, before the extinction of our entire race.
Forgive me of my opinion that we "do matter" and that we have some "grand purpose" for it is all that I have come to believe the more i study the small part of the history of humankind that is extant in our possession.
In other words, why should we assume that we even "deserve" a cure for our particular ailments? Sure, we suffer and die, and it's painful and it's lonely, each one of us , seemingly trapped in a body that undergoes it's own personal evolution. Does it even "matter" that PD should be "cured"? ASk anyone who doesn't have PD or whose life will never be touched by PD and who will never even have heard the words, or have any inkling of what it is.
Well, it DOES MATTER to us. And what applies to us in general, applies to ALL people in general. Sure, in spite of our collective insignificance in the universe , we are meaningless, but on a local level there is great need to right the wrongs of life and heal the bodies and spirits of every organism that lives here on this dust mote.
So who will perform the deeds that will eliminate the twisted, unfair, suffering of the masses, here on earth? Well, it will come from the same tortured individuals. And for what reasons? Perhaps among them will be the aquisition of wealth for wordly pleasure, fame for the ego, or just plain "drive" to "do something good"; an attitude that springs forth from our genetic strands like the existence of the precious elements for the building of society. Our saviors will come from us. The saviors of humanity will come from us. Death is but an illusion, a reality, but an illlusion. Suffering is real, but neccessary. Without death and suffering, evolution becomes stagnant.
So, with those words, that are incomprehensible to even the author; plunge ahead, live life to it's fullest; fight for your right to exist relatively unharmed by others, and hope that it all has some meaning. --

This was worth reading twice please don't delete it Chuck.

ol'cs, I believe w're on the same page, except that you expressed my point with much more eloquence. Your advice to "plunge ahead, live life to it's fullest; fight for your right to exist relatively unharmed by others, and hope that it all has some meaning" says it all.

Thank you for that.
Sheryl

Your writing is eloquent, CS, and your words ring true. I am also certain that there is more to life than a fleeting moment on this dust mote.

Perhaps not "in spite of" but "because of" our collective insignificance in the universe, we are driven to make a difference in the lives of others. I think that was the point Sagan was making. He said, "It is up to us."

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