This is because the people who own the perfectly fine houses across the street (including very pretty gardens) have decided that the time it right to knock them down in order to put up a sign and sell imaginary houses they will build there instead. They believe these new houses will be FAR superior (there will at least be a lot more of them and cost $350,000+). Not one of them will be accessible. Indeed, this company, which has won MANY awards has not made ONE accessible house for sale, or apartment building, as to date. I was told by the co-owner that of the 47 apartment buildings they manage there are TWO apartments that are wheelchair accessible and if they become available before they spend a year building these new houses, then I can move in there. I will not hold my breath.Needless to say, when you combine chainsaws, earth movers, and demolition heavy equipment machinery about 30 feet away, it makes for quite a noise….a noise that goes on for only 9 hours or so. The down side is that I have been quite ill since…um…well there hasn’t been a day since Friday where we didn’t think of taking me to the hospital. One of those days involved being on the toilet for 7 hours for intestinal problems. Sadly one of those problems included that I was no longer able to produce lubricant in my intestines – can we all say “OWWWWW!” And then I was carried to bed. So peace and quiet are important and we are going up the island to a place by the sea where it is quiet. We have a very nice room because….the room which is for government workers is not accessible, though it may have a wheelchair roll in shower and such, the completely built for wheelchairs room has stairs leading to it (so disabled workers for the government..at all?). Welcome to Canada. And to the planning of such hotels as they build a room, advertise how they have a “WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE” room and then when asked if I can GET to it go, “Um……well…..if you go that way, then….no, that won’t work….but…er..how about I upgrade you to something else.”
Linda is excited to go because she get to eat new food.
There is a farmers market we may stop at along the way. That’s pretty much all it takes to get Linda excited – new place, new food. Yup she is a six year old at heart, just don’t tell anyone I told you.We are almost packed so I have to go. The one thing I did manage to do over the last few days is read a LOT of manga (remember the 7 hours, that was just ONE of the last 5 bad days, and this one looks to be interesting too!).
So I will do some reviews when I get back. Have no fear, I will report from our new location with pictures and all as I think they have Wireless. But I have wanted to do some more reviews anyway since I did not finish all the ones I wanted to review last time. Anyway, just in case some person accidentally pushes THIS BUTTON and goes to my wishlist: and then buys copious amounts of manga (or singles!) I will be very grateful since while some people do not see them as a medical necessity, when you are on the toilet for seven hours in just one day when you are only awake 11, or when you can only stare at the ceiling with pain, I tend to think of them as a form of alternative pain killers (they distract when life gets a bit too much to be endured). Also there is Mafia Chic for Linda.Some of the manga is VERY historical and (if you get it now before like tomorrow) 36% off, like Ludwig II, which is about the relationship of him and his doctor as the kingdom moved on into democracy while he retreated into Wagnerian Castles and fantasy. And then yes, some is about gleeful youthful looking boys bouncing happily in the arms of grumpy novelists. Or books called ‘You will fall in Love’ about love in Jyudo (Japanese Archery…..they did say style and focus was everything!).
I am slightly anxious about going
as I have by now so MANY machines to keep parts of me alive or not rotting that any movement from home base is slightly anxiety producing (plus many recent bad days). Plus last night was VERY bad for about 3 hours making us leave late today. But I am ready to go now. See we plan to have a DATE tonight. So off we are, two companions, goth sweet loli’d up and ready to see the world!
Linda has already said she has ‘plans’ when she went around yesterday demanding to know ‘where’s the dolphin!’ and I told her that if there was a vibrator thief in this house look to her own drawer. But no she ransacked the desk and then of course DID find them in her drawer. I just wonder if we have enough batteries? She has also said something about ART, and how she needs to do some drawings for postarity.
I suggested that if we needed these as ART, why not do them outside? She said no, these one were best for inside the room, or perhaps the bubble bath.I’ll tell you ALL about the date…well maybe not ALL. Later!
Posts
27 comments:
Not like you not to insist on sharing all the details - that must be a VERY hot date!
Hope you had a safe trip up island, didn't forget any essential gadgets or batteries, and get to spend some nice quality time together.
P.S. Another postcard arrived - lovely studious young men, very suitable :-P And there was a 'please come and get your parcel' message, so hopefully one of the slow-travelling tortoise-mail parcels has finally come - i'm excited!
So sorry you're being chased out of your home, but I gotta admit, it sounds like you're making the most of it! Hopefully, you'll be able to get some quiet and rest and waitaminit... the accessible room has STAIRS leading up to it??? Good lord...
Enjoy the away, the food, the sea, the dolphin - all of it! May it give you good days.
I'm so glad you are away from the noise! I hope the hot date is a good one! :)
*hugs*
I think, if you're lucky, they will build the hose is right next to the street. That way, when they build the houses behind, the front ones will block the sound!
Okay, the wheelchair accessible room is up a flight of stairs? Man, you really aren't making me want to come visit Canada, are you?
Enjoy the vacation. Blog when you get back. Enjoy being with Linda, instead. (You know that there are more than just purple dolphins, right?) Have lots of liquid meals (the kitchen has to have a blender), and tell us about almost everything when you get back.
Hi,
I just came across your blog post and wish list. My name is Ben Applegate, and I was the translator of Ludwig II for Digital Manga, so it's sort of ego-stroking for me to send you a copy. It is an incredible piece of work, and I hope you enjoy it!
Ben
Dear Ben, wow, that is fantastic news - and amazing, I think the job of translator must be part artist, part hard-hard work and part frustration. I have enough problems with this language and getting my thoughts across.
Not that I am hinting but my address is:
Elizabeth McClung
P.O. Box 2560
Port Angeles, WA
98362, USA
PS - are there any type of postcards you like - as you might see, I send out postcards to people for fun, and like to make them as much a piece of art as humanly possible. So I would love to send you one or two back - they can in no way compare to your labour of love but I'll be happy to know that you got them.
Jane B: I hope it is hot date, so far all that is happened is Linda spilled the Massage oil! Great, I hope you enjoy the postcards of all your students hard at study!
Well, the first day was a wee disaster as the heat wave move up here - and the air con on the phone which was promised didn't exist in reality. But we got to sleep eventually after I had a fever and was in a light passing out state - but there is always TOMORROW!
Yes, I have a picture of the wheelchair spot they made for us and the AB people who checked in before us while I sat in the van taking it with thier car! Love Canada - what is that blue sign mean anyway?!
Do you realize that you've asked for money or charity in 3 of the last 5 blogs? I am here because of a feminist friend was rants on and on about EFM but all I see is a kind of Jerry Lewis blog, here look hard at disability and then give money. No thanks.
Jasmine
Hope you get rest, quiet, and great air conditioning, and a respite from stomach woes. I'd like to visit Canada someday but the accessibility sounds like it will take some definite planning.
Cool to have one of the manga translators comment here!
The book's already taken care of through Amazon. Unfortunately I am located in Seoul, Korea right now so you will probably get a copy before I do. :) But if you like postcards maybe I can send one.
The work I have to do is nothing compared to Higuri-sensei's incredible imagination. I'm honored to be a part of it. Let me know how it's turned out!
Ben
I get a little anxious when I go away anywhere. Crazy really when you spend so much time in one place wishing you could be some place else!
It's not like I am a nutter or want to be a hermit. But when you have health problems it's good to know everything you need is close at hand and you're in a place where you can cope with stuff.
But a change of scene can be good. Especially if that change of scene doesn't have construction work making you feel total crap!
Enjoy your (ahem) time with Linda.
Wheelchair accessible room that is accessible by stairs. Does it come with four energetic Japanese men to carry you up the stairs (thinking of stairs on your Japan trip)?
I hope the remainder of your retreat is restful.
Ben, welcome to Beth's world! I don't think it's stroking your ego to send Beth a copy; it's very nice of you.
Love and zen hugs to all, especially traveling Beth and Linda,
Neil
Ben Applegate: Wow that must be quite the commute to work! I jest as the joys of the modern world is enjoying the literature of the world. Too bad Raccoon didn't know as he went to Seoul last year.
Jasmine/Anonymous: Well, that is a very valid point that I think we should look at very closely!
Jerry Lewis: well, if you wanted to hurt me you did; and if you only take this away from my blog please be aware that most people with disabilities do NOT consider Jerry Lewis to look closely at disability (or as he said until recently 'these poor handicapped...') - as Harriet McBryde talks about in her bio 'To late to die young' as she grew up and...didn't die, when Jerry Lewis told the world she would. What now?
I have made no secret of the fact that being chronically disabled with no support network of family in a province where I am not even listed as disabled until I am on welfare (which I do not qualify for) is a very, very expensive business, particularly when I have a degerative disease which requires a LOT of pills and a lot of equipment - as INDY, my recent $25,0000 wheelchair illustrates, the $5,800 one before that, the cost to race, the cost to exercise at the Y (which was part of a plan to extend my life). I did not, I am aware ask for assistance for this, or for the $5,000 hospital bed, and the medication which as Lisa Moon points out cost for just ONE about $400 a month, along with the non-prescription medication which is another several hundred dollars a month. I have no TV, no grand trips, no minor trips (except this one as last time the noise which interferred with my medical condition almost put me in the hospital - this time it would). And the various medical costs consume 1/3 of my partner's salary. Of this I ask nothing. It is my crap hole and I live in it. I don't have TV, I don't have entertainment but what is given to me. I do not have the capacity to go to the library anymore.
There are no ads on my blog, there never have been, there never will be. You come and read and if you don't like what you see (as you did not) that disability is a rather crappy messy business which is damn complicated, far too complicated for many feminists sadly, they you are free to go. I wrote for the BBC along with others as I have written for other disability arenas for FREE - my material is used for FREE. Yes, take that to your MATRIARCHY, since it is primarily the matriarcy that has dominated my experience. We are non-people, and so we receive non-pay.
Part II on why I say what I DO say:
Jasmine/Anonymous Part II:
I do not ask people for money. I give people choices because people asked me for choices. There ARE people who chose to give regularly toward medical costs, and those we keep toward medical costs. Often people would like to help Linda becuase she is my partner, a full time caregiver, my person who LITERALLY carries me to bed (the example my own father used as 'What do you EXPECT from me?' in terms of what was ludicrious 'To CARRY you to bed." - Well someone has to. Or I can simply choke to death on the floor. So when Linda's birthday came around and I did something rather stupid/glorious I could have kept it a huge secret and if people had all chosen to not give, then I would have paid anyway - see that's the trick between me and Jerry, and PBS, and the rest - it gets paid or lived ANYWAY. But I don't say, "Please give." do I?
Also, if you go over to the postcard project blog you will see that 10 of the last 10 posts, indeed all the post are about how I GIVE AWAY to anyone, to you jasmine, because you seem in desperate need of a postcard, postcards, in the hundreds and thousands, crafted. I give away hundreds of gifts a year, bought for each person (and to let you in on a little secret, as Linda says with my childlike brain damaged thinking, those who give to me are friends and I give gifts to friends). This is who I am. Is my life better due to the people who read this blog: YES!!!! Did these people help me go to the states to get a diagnosis: YES!!! Am I thankful every day: YES!!! - do I try in every way to give that back: YES!!! Will I always feel guilt to the people who give and who I cannot return in kind or in 10 fold? YES, I will. But after $40,000 in costs in one year with no family support, as I am often told by the people here - I HAVE an online family.
Blog 1: Too much noise: "just in case some person accidentally pushes THIS BUTTON and goes to my wishlist: and then buys copious amounts of manga (or singles!) I will be very grateful..." - I suppose this could be seen as solicitation - however there is no pressure, there is indeed no attempt at manipulation, just a list of the reason (seven hours on toilet) and the result (little manga to read) - if someone wants to act, fine, if not, fine, the blog, which usually takes me between 4 and 7 hours goes on...for free. Indeed the only think I know I have solicited for is kittens in Japan, if you have an issue with that - well then yes, I think kittens in Japan should not starve to death.
Linda's Birthday: Again, people had often said that 'what could they do for Linda' - and I showed them that I was getting an anniversary present for Linda and if they wanted it could be from ALL of us. If not, it would be from me. "If you do, then you too can be part of a 'Jason Hunt' and I will try to thank you for making the kindest caregiver I know, excited and happy." - This is Jerry Lewis? Or is this being completely open and honest about my life? Actually as requested by several readers, my a portion of the 'community' who read here.
Disability Gender: Nada
Linda's Birthday and which sibling are you: A blog which cost me around $120 to write, the romances listed cost .01 plus shipping. People wanted to know what to get her, I told them. then the post and I moved on.
Part III Below
To Jasmine/Anonymous: Language of Pain: same books as above listed (about .01) for Linda - yes, come, look at the cripple and give to....someone else. It is a choice - there are choices, we make them every day. I am not going to take that away from people to make anyone feel good, nor am I going to hide that they exist for the same reason. I do not advertise nor make arrangements with merchants (as is offered often) because that is not the purpose of the blog. I am giving you the respect to treating you as a friend, "Hey, I'm getting her flowers and a commission from an artist; you said you wanted to get her something, I know she likes those romance books and handcream."
Cat Visit: Ah ha, surprised me, I mention florastor after literally shitting myself. How odd.
Sick, Eiki Eiki: I mention Linda got me something for my birthday - one of the few if only presents I did not give away.
Camera Whore: I get, based on comments, about 15 gifts for people - too bad you didn't comment here instead huh - unless you feel that my giving to people who talk about what they life is a form of them soliciting things from me. Them deliberately taking advantage of a brain damaged disabled person?
My Birthday: Review of manga bought by me, or given to me by various sources including the publisher.
Should Able Bodied: Nada
The Brain Board: I share how I managed to construct a prosthetic brain.
Pain and Communication: My post regarding CFS/Fibro day
Squirrel Time: Squirrel pictures of me feeding squirrels.
So of 12 posts I mention manga, I mention florastor, I mention Linda's commission (which is kind of odd, don't you think, me GIVING UP my anniversary present/birthday present so more can participate?) and I send out in the time period 118 postcards; send out 40-45 packages of gifts and spend about $280 on costs for the blog.
I thought feminism was about being part of a community, about being aware of the other, seeing the others view. I WANT to know the other's view and I try to be open about mine. I am sorry you are not able to see beyond 3 sentences which you interpret one way out of about 70,000 sentences. You judged me in two sentences, I spent 1/10th of my day to explain my point of view to you here in the comments. And yet in the posts nor comments do you chose to see value. That is your choice. You are still welcome to request a postcard.
PS: Actually this was a surprise to me, regarding the frequency which is due to Linda's birthday but also due to the fact that I have a memory of 24-48 hours and I post every 50-60 hours on average - so I was unaware when I made each post, in my freshly cleaned slate of a mind, whether I had done X or Y or used word Q or V last post. Bringing this to my attention that IS a bit too often and not very fair - choice is one thing but repitition is not really open choice. Thank you to alerting me to this - but once again it comes from a complex truth about memory loss and brain damage not a simple solution about your snap judgement of me or this blog. Go deeper is my advice. As for me, another note to the brain board, to make sure I do not pester people.
hee hee hee, great last picture. ;)
Glad they upgraded you! It'll be that much more special to get away in a really nice room. But can you really enjoy yourself with being so ill?? I wish there were more I could do for you about THAT.
I admit that I also sometimes feel like you give a lot of options for people to give to you; on the other hand, you DO give a lot to others, and there is the threefold law: you receive threefold of what you give. It reminds me that I am an incredibly stingy person with my money, and I'm trying to be a lot less so. So I might as well donate to this cause or that one, at least while I'm still on a stipend until the end of the month. ;) So you know, I will be using all your resources from your past posts on ways to help you financially in the near future.
However, you also don't need to take comments like Jasmine's so seriously -- it sounds like she's already made up her mind, and trying to defend yourself against that isn't good for your health. :P
"The Brain Board: I share how I managed to construct a prosthetic brain."
You know, the sort of organ building I plan to do pales in comparison to what you are doing already! Mine will be bigger and louder, though. ;-)
I hope that your hot date continues unabated, with rooms at a sufficiently cool temperature. I can't wait to hear about it!
Dear Beth,
I hope you are able to enjoy the get-away. Wish you lots of peace & quiet, fun dates with Linda and many new foods for Linda.
I've been down with an intestinal flu (not fun as you well know),sinus infection, etc. I managed to recover enough for a visit yesterday for a visit with 3 of my sisters. It was fun, but I'm now paying for it.
My sister's brought some pretty plants for the deck, so now our Sunflowers are part of a real garden. They were impressed by the growth & vigor of the Sunflowers.
Please take care & get some rest along with the dating & other fun.
Sharon
Elizabeth,
Enjoy your date, and I hope you travel safely. Sending a card your way!
I'll have to keep you in mind, Ben, the next time I go.
(Note to self: start planning next year's vacation...)
Beth, I think you might've spent more time with Jasmine then it was worth. And, your reply would've made a good blog post, after you get back.
I'm glad you have your stocked wishlist of things that you and Linda would like or need. And has things that can help towards the Postcard Project. I'm also glad you shared the gift for Linda and told your friends how to contribute if we wanted.
I'm glad you now feel able to say when there are things you would like or need that make life a little easier. For a long long time you refused to ask anyone for anything.
jasmine is absolutely correct, you have totally bought into the tin cup of jerry lewis. and I distinctly remember you all out begging for money at at least one occasion, not to mention you yourself didn't fork out those medical costs. I believe you called yourself "shameless" about the money at one point, and you were right.
BB
Lene: I had a very good day, which was more than I believed possible at this time in my life. Far more than I believed possible.
Wendryn: It wasn't for the first day and the last ended poorly but the other bits were very good indeed. I guess I did need a vacation. How odd.
Raccoon: Well, the other rooms including the suite had a lip to get up and not a single one of the rooms had a shower that a wheelchair could get in, despite being told over the phone that they could - they were simply prefab units, several inches tall to jump over to get in a foot when you hit the plastic seat. UG.
The kitchen didnt have a blender and more important no air con - in fact the big suite they showed us was 29 C or 84 degrees. Ouch. So we chose this little one in the woods at 22 degrees.
Frida: Yes, very cool, I talked to the translator of Media works at the Sakura con but to have a translator comment here is very cool, and somewhat amazing.
The accessibility issues would require at least one full AB companion at a minimum as often times there are simply places an AB person has to go to find out if there IS a way for a chair to go X, Y or Z. It turns out the Sticks and Wheels for the sunshine coast is the high level mark standard of disability information - so I would recommend a visit to there, as you get so much of the best of beaches and forests, as well as the disabled outhouse (not mandatory) while never having to wonder where the parking spots are.
Rachel: I don't think it is crazy, it is just when you are vulnerable and need to lie down or are suddenly ill, it is so much better to be someplace safe where everything is where you know it is. So I get anxious until a new place is sort of like 'home'.
Too bad that it looks like a week of Contruction work crap ahead of me - again, when the 'project manager' doesn't know how long it will take (except the original two days which is so far off the mark) buying a house here much less living in it and finding out what goes wrong would be a wonderious adventure (oh the tile guys never finished, is that important? Those electrical contractors were cheap but I never knew what they were doing and they are still working so you can't move in for another several months....why, is that a problem?) - yikes!
Neil: Sadly, no men to carry me around, the term 'personal responsibility' or 'shaming the firm' are not Canadian business cultures for the most part - I think someone in home depot would not have to carrying something to someone's house to stop them from shaming the company but rather go, "Yeah, whatever."
Ben: Oh, that seems very unfair, if you want to email me your address at mpshiel at hotmail.com, I can ensure that you at least get some interesting postcards and then I can post you the book once I have read it (I am a fast reader, honest) with my impressions of it - even if you don't want the book, I would still love to send you some postcards.
I would definately like to and will post here in case you don't get in touch, love to show how it turns out - it is such a great material to begin with.
Stephanie: Well as it happened, while upgraded the room was on the freeway, so special but also sort of noisy, and the fans were needed but it did stay in the low 20's while outside was in the upper 30's (90's) So that was great, even if we had to pay the extra.
Ah, I take it the package has not reached you then. I have been exceedingly fortunate in the kindness people have show me, people who never know me. However, as a person who grew up with the third tithe, and the practice of Jesus taken seriously, having a significant percentage of your income given to others is not something that I am sure I NOT do, in whatever form I ended up giving it (time if I had no money, time and money when I had it, and now, communication, reaching out and gifts). Charity is what most people get married to, since they read I Cor 13 - it means love. Only today to we want to seperate the feeling into one thing and leave the action behind. I find they work best when put together.
I suppose it was a defence though really a self examination - as for instance I found out that like repeating a line I think is funny, if I don't know I said it 48 hours ago and I keep saying it every 55 hours, and no one says anything, I will never know. so that was in a way good. I have had many inform me that for so long I did nothing, refused help in any way, indeed becoming the recipient of help is difficult and not easy. One is of course thankful but in today's society, when wealth or money is equal to standing, one is taught to be ashamed. For Linda, I would and will do anything, I would beg in the streets, I would beg in the newspapers, I would beg in the parliment, and I would, as I have asked her to do, skin me or harvest me now while alive to produce a sufficient income for herself. If you know a laboratory that is in need of skin for grafting let me know. The point I think is that I have, by no means or fault of my own, been put in a place where no matter what I do my health will be worse; the question is only really quality of life. And since Linda has to live with holding me down, with pulling me upright bodily as she did two hours ago so I could breath when my lungs would not open, then what would I not do for her? What sacrifice or humilation would I not make for the woman who cleans the shit off my clothes, who literally carries me out of hot rooms, and into safety, who stays with me as I hallucinate, as I scream, who covers me in ice when it is needed for me to live, and sits with me, though I don't understand why, and views the pain and confusion because that IS the path she has chosen? I would do anything possible. And if she says she wants something, I will do anything to get it. And I will, and if anyone wants to show her that she is as amazing person to understand her own strength but also her own weakness, and join me, then yes, that is something I have learned from people in THIS blog community, to be more open about such things. Thanks.
Abi: well, I could be competitive and try to add musical triggers to mine to train my body to respond to notes or use musical notes as ways to look at parts of the brain board, or combine a computer with it and then put the music and the board together? Haha! You see how far you can get with yours and I will see how far I can get with mine.
Dear Sharon: I am very sorry, as I had both of those not long ago, and they are not fun, but I am very glad that you have an increased garden becuase I know the pleasure that it brings you. The growth and vigor of the sunflowers reflect the gardener - sometimes people only see the outer shell of that day, instead of what really goes on. For me, I am certain that the sunflowers were meant for you, and you them.
Full Tilt: Thanks, I look forward to it.
Raccoon: You are right as always, I appreciate your being centered in these things which affect me so much. It would have made a good blog post and perhaps still will. Often I hide a great deal of the medical, the horrid, when I post, I focus on one thing, really, because I found that makes people sort of scared and helpless. And so I try to focus once a week on the readers with posts for them, and light posts, and then once in a while the bit that sometimes disability and dying in a town where no one, literally no one will take responsibility even for reversing anemia isn't that funny. Really thank you for that answer, it helped a lot - oh look, more are coming. Now they aren't anon., they are just initials.
Rachel: Thank you for reminding me about that - I had forgotten about my refusal really to see myself as anything but able bodied and now I can expose my vulnerability to my friends, and who I hope would share thiers back. Thanks.
BB: "you have totally bought into the tin cup of jerry lewis. and I distinctly remember you all out begging for money at at least one occasion, not to mention you yourself didn't fork out those medical costs. I believe you called yourself "shameless" about the money at one point, and you were right." - I have to wonder, when I explain in the comments the pain the reference to Jerry Lewis causes why you would do it again, since you clearly read the comments. Is it pain you like? Because you give it, and you gave it with the full knowledge that you WERE giving it. That type of person does not gain my respect, as this is not a sex game and I am not a masocist. What value do I put on the words of a person who starts by trying to cause as much personal pain as possible.
Very little. When it comes to Linda, I would beg, I have begged, and I am completely without shame regarding that (that is what 'shameless' means). Linda is my life, a person, frail yet strong, but special and all who know her, know how special she is. You perhaps have no one in your life: no child, no partner, no friend for whom you would literally lay down your dignity, your everything for? I feel kind of sad and sorry about that. Would you like a postcard becuase you seem an entirely wounded soul.
Unless you work at the billing department of a particular hospital, you have no idea how or what was paid, and yet you assume things about me. You have no idea how my medical costs for the last several years have been paid; certainly NOT by readers, and not, I would expect ever by readers. That is something which is our to bear. And not by you. You BB, are not shameless, for you act shamefully. If all you have seen, in all of these blogs, is the memory that I was assisted to a hospital (not that I was diagnosed terminal), that I begged (for my partner and love, who herself became disabled and needed caring), or that I do these act, and must do them without shame (while you would see that as a negative thing) then you are a very, very, slow learner. Out of 200,000 words you have not even gotten the title of the work correct, your report is on the page numbers and ones you feel might be misnumbered. Read to learn, read to feel, read to care about other human beings. It is why I expose my life. Why do you obscure yours? ............B.B. - known only as a buzzing sound. Is that all you wish to be? Please, ask for a postcard, because if you do not know how to recieve, then you cannot know how to care and give, and that IS actually part of the human condition and a joy of it.
I know Beth has a policy where commentors who attack her are posted but commentors are not allowed to attack others - so I am not sure that this will get posted but I need to say it anyway.
I am angry that BB and Jasmine feel that they can make a cursory reading of a small section of this blog and that allows them to pass judgement. I am ticked off that they have done so in essentially a drive by flaming.
If someone truly took the time to read the blog AND the comments from the beginning they would see how Beth avoided accepting help even when we kept repeatedly asking her what we could do. She would not accept money or anything else even when it was freely offered to help her live longer.
That changed when her partner and love became disabled for a period. Then Beth asked for help - for her partner. Those who give do so freely. We love Beth and Linda. They are family and we want to help in anyway we can.
Those who don't feel that way can read and comment and ignore the mentions of the wishlist or donation link on the other blog. No one is coerced.
If the issue is that a true feminist shouldn't ask for help then you have a tough road ahead of you in this life and I suspect your view point may one day change. I am a woman and I consider myself a feminist. I am also disabled so I have to ask for help from others. Not doing so causes me increased damage to my body, more pain and the likelihood that I will become even more disabled. Given all that - being overly independent and refusing help seems just plain stupid to me.
I really resent that individuals also pass judgement without understanding the medical issues. Two parts of the brain damage Beth has sustained through her illness are memory loss and regression. The memory loss means Beth truly has no idea what she has said or done more than 24 hours ago so she does repeat herself. Those of us who are aware of that understand that is why the wishlist is mentioned often and we do not assume she is bringing it up repeatedly as coercion.
The regression means that even though her writing and vocabulary are very intelligent and adult Beth is often at a mental age of between 5 years old and 10 years old. So when someone criticizes her what she retains as she regresses is that someone has said she is a bad person and it hurts.
So if you come by here and read this blog and don’t like what you read - just leave. It’s no different than other things on the internet that you don’t like. You don’t like a site you just don’t visit it. It is that simple.
okay, I probably shouldn't respond to your comment more than 48 hours later, but I was gone for a few days so I want to just say the important thing:
since I didn't grow up in a strictly Christian family, the idea of the tithe is something I really have to get used to. My parents do give money to charity but it's something they don't really tell us kids about. They just do it and go on, without trying to instill the same values in us. So it's something I have to learn for myself. And through you and your blog community I'm learning this, as well.
I had to look up I Cor 13. I still have trouble fathoming 'love', so that's probably a good thing. Love is a hard concept for me, but I do understand your wanting to help Linda for doing all those things for you. And I want to help you do that when I can, too.
And... I don't know what else. My brain: dead. But it would like more poetry in its life. And beauty like that which you provide the world.
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