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Old January 14th 05, 06:21 PM
Jim S.
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Your seppuku-like attitude is what I was expressing grievance with. I'm
very sorry about your wife. Let me explain where I'm speaking from.

Back in high-school my auto shop teacher was paralyzed from the neck down.
He had just enough use of his right arm to work a power-wheel chair. Yet, he
was one of the best teachers I had, and was one of the most well liked
teachers in the school. He managed to live a worthwhile life in spite of his
severe disability. I'm really glad he didn't give up. Perhaps that's
selfishness on my part, but I think he enjoyed teaching as much as I enjoyed
learning from him.

I volunteered at a VA hospital for a time for school. There were several
people there with amputations, several who were blind, and suffered other
ailments. They struggled with pain, and depression but they still managed to
live worthwhile lives, and wanted to continue living. Some of the people
that I saw who most wanted to die were not the most disabled. They were the
people who had given up because they felt abandoned and worthless.
Frequently it was the people who had family members expressing notions like,
"I'd rather be dead," that seemed to feel the most hopeless and abandoned.
It was a very frustrating experience to see people who had given up because
others gave up on them. So, you can see why I don't like to see these ideas
of false nobility and abandonment being expressed. In my experience, it's
an attitude that serves no one but the cowardly.



"Ralph Snart" > wrote in message
...
>
>
>
> "Jim S." > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> "Ralph Snart" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> I'd rather be killed instantly than be a para or quad for the rest of
>>> my life.

>>
>> What a pathetic, lonely, and sad thing to say. I hope you don't have any
>> family or friends to inflict with your feeble and sorrowful outlook.
>>

>
> Hey jackass - who the hell are you to know about my life? It's like this;
> my wife has been living with advanced MS for several years, and I can tell
> you, I have no desire to live like she has. As a critical care RN, I've
> seen the problems that para and quads have - frequent skin breakdowns,
> constant pneumonia, constant depression and the stress that brain injured
> patients place their families. There are worse things than death - only
> somebody naive like you would want to live that way. You are a selfish,
> petty person to want to live under those circumstances.
>
> Get out of your basement and get a look at the world - go to a rehab
> center or a nursing home - look at a 23 year old quad and tell me that
> you'd like to live that way for 20-30 years. If you do this and still say
> yes, you're beyond pathetic.
>



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