[Vision2020] the "Support the Palins Really Need"

[Donovan Arnold]

Bruce, thanks for showing us this excellent article.
 
Best,
 
Donovan

--- On Fri, 9/5/08, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:

From: lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] the "Support the Palins Really Need"
To: "Bruce and Jean Livingston" <jeanlivingston at turbonet.com>, vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Friday, September 5, 2008, 6:54 PM

Thanks, Bruce
Roger

-----Original message-----
From: "Bruce and Jean Livingston" jeanlivingston at turbonet.com
Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:27:37 -0700
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] the "Support the Palins Really Need"

> >From the opinon pages of the Washington Post, today, an interesting
column is reprinted below.  I post it not to foster a political discussion, but
to remind us all of our common humanity.   Caring and consideration for other
people, especially those less fortunate than ourselves, is a noble aspiration
for us all, one that can make the world in which we live a kinder, warmer place.
 Some forms of caring and consideration are hard and time consuming, but others
are not.  Little gestures, easily done, such as a kind smile and nod of the head
to acknowledge an oncoming pedestrian in our small town, can make a difference. 

> 
> Rare is the person who is intentionally hurtful or cruel; most of us are
simply unaware.
> 
> Bruce Livingston
> 
> P.S.  I suppose I cannot post this article without someone pointing out
that "common humanity" and "those less fortunate than
ourselves" are notions that apply to an eight celled embryo -- if you
believe that embryo is a human being.  Like Jeff Harkins, who suggested we have
a discussion of political issues on which there might be less entrenched and
polarized views than abortion, I am not posting this piece to argue over
abortion and the definition of "humans" or "when life
begins."  I am posting it in the hope of having people think about the
humans in our community with disabilities of some kind, and the effort that can
make all of our community's lives happier and fuller.   I do salute the
Palins personal decision to carry their child, Trig, to term, but I post this
article because it made me think of ways in which I might make the lives around
me fuller, happier and more complete.
> 
> The Support the Palins Really Need
> 
> By Ellen Crosby
> Friday, September 5, 2008; A21
> 
> 
> 
> Ever since John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate, many
have lavished praise on her decision not to have an abortion after she and her
husband learned that their youngest child, Trig, would be born with Down
syndrome. Do those telling Palin "attagirl" and "way to go"
have any idea what challenges and struggles Trig's parents -- and all of us
who care for children with special needs -- live with every day? Though everyone
cheered the Palin family in Minnesota this week, will those people be there for
that little boy and his family when their support is really needed?
> 
> How much better it would be if we could see past the hyper-toxic subject
of abortion in this election and let Sarah and Todd Palin's decision
spotlight a topic far from our national consciousness: the needs of Americans
with disabilities. They are our country's most underserved, neglected and
marginalized minority.
> 
> The parents of every special-needs child know that the Palins have a hard
road ahead of them. The heartbreak of watching the isolation and loneliness Trig
will face because he wants to be like other kids but isn't. The first time
they find out he sits alone in the cafeteria and on the school bus. The
realization that Trig understands why he doesn't get asked to the movies or
birthday parties like other kids but doesn't know what he did wrong.
> 
> The toughest challenges that Sarah Palin will face as the Republicans'
vice presidential nominee will probably look like a walk in the park when, as a
mother, she sees how invisible her son is to people who look away or through him
at the grocery store or the mall. She will be frustrated by doctors who dismiss
her concerns as overreacting or have no answers for her questions. She will grow
weary of the mountain of legal documents she and her husband must sign and the
annual negotiations and pleas they must endure with a phalanx of teachers,
therapists and administrators about what Trig's curriculum will be at
school.
> 
> The Palins will come to understand with acute clarity that while the sky
is the limit for their other children, for Trig the world will gradually become
a smaller place. And it will be their life's work to make sure that world is
safe and nurturing and fulfilling -- a place where strangers don't take
advantage of him or abuse him when they can't be there to prevent it. They
will be tested and angered and have their hearts broken. But the most
challenging journey will be Trig's, as he struggles with the basic tasks
most of us take for granted.
> 
> Still, there will be joy. The Palins will discover that this child will
change their lives in ways they could never have imagined, and they will be
richer for it. They will make friends and meet teachers, therapists and
volunteers at Special Olympics and Best Buddies who will open their hearts and
love Trig, treating him with a dignity he too rarely receives. Those good,
compassionate people and the other special families who become part of their
world will get them through tough times.
> 
> It is said that God chooses the families to whom he sends His special
children. The Palins are indeed right that Trig is a blessing and a gift. But
how much better would it be if, instead of praising Sarah Palin for not choosing
abortion, we could focus instead on what this child, and all disabled Americans,
need from us? If we could be there for the Palins on the journey they face as a
family? Doing so would surely add to the diversity of an election year that has
already shattered barriers of race and gender.
> 
> Ellen Crosby is a novelist who lives in Northern Virginia. She and her
husband have an autistic son.
> 
> 

=======================================================
 List services made available by First Step Internet, 
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
               http://www.fsr.net                       
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================



      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20080905/51b47121/attachment-0001.html