Newsgroups: ca.politics
Subject: Magic is no Hero
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1992 08:44:00 -0800

TO: jsb@jack.sns.com (Jim Best)

  <1992Oct4.202705.1254@jack.sns.com>

JB>Sent to me by a friend for posting.

JB>By Mike Barnicle;
stuff deleted...
  >        The very word, hero has been so cheapened and demeaned over the
  >past few years that I guess we should not be surprised. Still, it is
kind
  >of incredible that anyone in their right mind would place such a label
on
  >someone of proven bizarre conduct.

He may not be a hero, but he is visible.  If we have to have someone
prove the obvious (no one is safe and we all must be prudent in our
actions) maybe he can serve a purpose.  He may be the best education we
have for the future of AIDS/HIV and the prevention thereof.  I wouldn't
want to see him fail in his comeback, but even that would show how
debilitating and insidious the disease can be.  Maybe he can help turn
the public in a positive direction re. this and other diseases.  He may
serve as a great spokesman if he can reach those heretofore unreached.
        Enough of Magic...more importantly the following:

  >Roxbury, Mass., talking to an old friend of mine who is dying of cancer.
  >She is 42 years old.
  >        She has three children. The oldest, a girl, is 16 years old. The
  >two others, boys, are 12 and 8.
  >        For a couple weeks this summer, the woman underwent chemotherapy
  >on nearly a daily basis. In order to get back and forth to the hospital,
  >she took a bus.
  >        Each day that she went for treatment, no matter how sick she
felt,
  >she'd stop at Holy Cross Cathedral to pray. Kneeling at the altar, she
  >tried again and again to cut a deal with God: Just give her enough time
to
  >get her daughter out of high school and into college and she'd be happy.
  >                                   * * *
  >        "Me, I'm lucky. I know I'm going to die, probably fairly
  >soon. But I've had time to pray and talk to my children about death and
  >about life too. About how wonderful life can be if you don't give up, if
  >you can get yourself an education and if you have people around who love
  >you."
  >        "My children go to school every day. They work hard and they
love
  >one another and they respect their mother. That's a lot. That's
something
  >God gave me."
  >        In the paper  the other morning, there was an obituary for a
  >young man named Kevin O'Neil who was claimed by cancer at  age 20. He
was
  >from Hingham, Mass., went to BC High and on to Harvard where he studied
  >while struggling with his illness. When he was dying in the hospital,
  >O'Neil tutored other children on the ward. Give back instead of giving
up.
  >        All around us, there are these amazing people who live and raise
  >families under the weight of tremendous odds. Each day, they inspire
with
  >their selfless gifts.
  >        These are the heroes, who ought to be held up as role models to
so
  >many of the young who are never taught that there is a right and a
wrong.
  >Why would we ever waste our time on a sad, selfish athlete when there
are
  >such champions right in front of us?

Much more to the point...Thank you for bringing these people to our
attention.  Tell your friend on the porch, we all feel for her, and wish
her only the best from her life and her children.  Who will care for
them when she dies...keep us posted.  What can we do to help them.  With
such a wonderful mother, they are lucky.  I hope they get through their
grief and hurt without too many scars and are able to be assets to their
community.


FROM: debbie.rhodes@mcws.fidonet.org

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