Subj : Music/Medicine...  3.
To   : James Bradley
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Fri Mar 02 2018 02:36:56

Hi yet again, James!  This is the last installment in the current series:

JB>  Humour is a tool that I hope/I'm sure everyone here
JB>  has utilized to deal with the muck that surrounds us,
JB>  but unless the muck is identical, the audience might
JB>  not appreciate the speakers sense of humour about it.


          Yes, I think a sense of humour is a very valuable asset even if those 
around you find it incomprehensible.  Your feeling of being at a loss for words 
when somebody wishes you a "speedy recovery" also reminds me of another.  Years 
ago I read an account by the father of a young child with Down's syndrome.  One 
day a neighbour dropped by & exclaimed "You let him walk on the chesterfield??" 
(We know people like that.  I reckon many others in this echo probably do too.) 
The father could have patiently informed her that the PT had advised the family 
to encourage the child to walk on various surfaces to improve his balance etc., 
and that he attached a higher priority to his son's needs than to the condition 
of the chesterfield... but this woman doesn't sound like the type of person who 
would be able to grasp the concept.  He could have told her to MYOB, but he may 
have wanted to maintain an approximation of peaceful coexistence with her.  His 
response was "Thank God he can walk!"  IMHO he put it in a nutshell there.  ;-)



[re Gacy]
AH>  The serial killer?  JFTR, I had to google his
AH>  name....  :-)

JB>  You didn't *have* to, JFTR. <L>


          Oops.  Good point!  I chose to use my preferred learning style.  Even 
if somebody holds a gun to one's head, one has choices... [grin].



AH>  And you wonder how he got that way... I can relate.

JB>  "Ow... I didn't know *that* crack was in the pavement.
JB>  How might we fill it, so it never opens up again?"


          I once read about a guy in the States who asked for the death penalty 
because his "illness" had no "cure".  He was a violent rapist who seemed unable 
to control his behaviour despite his remorse.  As a parent I'm tempted to throw 
the book at such people... I want them to be where they can't do the same thing 
ever again... OTOH as an individual who often falls between the cracks I wonder 
if we as a society have failed to meet their needs.  Some people who are abused 
the way Gacy was resolve that the cycle of abuse will end with them & manage to 
turn their lives around... others don't.  We still have a lot to learn....  :-(




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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