According to Wikipedia: Parkinson’s disease, or simply Parkinson’s, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. As the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms become more common. The symptoms usually emerge slowly. Early in the disease, the most obvious symptoms are shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement, and difficulty with walking.” Wikipedia
According to Segal: A SOB, fucking bastard who randomly attacks you regardless of time of day or stage of life. Yesterday was an excellent example. I woke up feeling great, even well balanced. I wrote an article, made breakfast, and emptied a few boxes. Then I froze! Yes, froze. I could not get my legs to work. The rest of the day was crappy. Renee, Lisa and Steve worked, I sat. I hate sitting. I make a lousy invalid.
This am was crappy again. It’s 8 am and I’m starting to get better. Strangely enough, I can’t type an “A”. I keep hitting the cap lock. My left pinky doesn’t want to obey. So, why am I telling you this?
It’s important that you know that what you see is not necessarily true. People tell me I look good. Some must be blind. Some simply want to make me feel good by lying to me. Others actually think I look good mainly because they don’t know me. Looks can be deceiving. You really can’t feel what another person feels even if you have the same thing.
Yes, if you have a lot in common with another person, you can feel a lot like them, but as individuals our feelings are our own. As a Jew, I’ve felt anti-Semitism. At the age of 21, a Virginia Congressman actually told my parents that I did not get into a prestigious Virginia school as the Jewish quota had been met. In Mexico, the Sephardic Jews actually discriminated against the American Jews as we represented the Ashkenazi tribe. Being discriminated against for any reason is miserable.
You may be asking yourself where I’m going with this. So am I! I’m typing as my thoughts come to mind and my mind usually takes me where it wants to go in a roundabout way. Ah ha! All of this has to do with the riots and social unrest. I cannot pretend to know what it feels like to be discriminated against because of the color of your skin. What happened to that poor soul, George Floyd, was horrifying and cannot be tolerated, but two wrongs really don’t make a right. While protesting against discrimination makes a lot of sense, rioting and looting does not.
All of this brings me back to the concept of balance. Despite the Parkinsonian random acts of terror I suffer from, I have to work hard to maintain my balance or be destroyed. Society needs to work hard to regain its balance and eradicate racism and violence or be destroyed. We need to come together as one, look for commonalities.
One last point. Generalization is the haters tool. When I hear protestors spewing hateful rhetoric about “cops,” I cringe. Those very remarks are racist. Think about it! Cops are being attacked/portrayed as “evil” because of a few bad individuals.
I want to repeat what I ‘ve recently read on Facebook:
Nobody hates bad cops more than good cops.
I don’t judge people based on color, race, religion, sexuality or gender. I base it on whether they’re an asshole or not.
Don’t be an asshole! Work to understand the other person. It’s time to heal. There is no joke today as this is not a joking matter.
Hello – If you have not, recommend you read “Lucky Man” by Michael J. Fox. Published in 2007. It is obvious when reading that it was not ‘ghostwritten.’
Hope it is helpful.
Former LZ resident, 1988-2018. You were family doctor to my kids and husband. Two of my uncles had Parkinson’s.
Thanks for the tip.