Received: from imo14.mx.aol.com (imo14.mx.aol.com [198.81.17.4]) by mw1.texas.net (2.4/2.4) with ESMTP id KAA06181 for ; Tue, 23 Jun 1998 10:06:25 -0500 (CDT) From: EmMail1@aol.com Received: from EmMail1@aol.com by imo14.mx.aol.com (IMOv14_b1.1) id UWLOa13456; Tue, 23 Jun 1998 10:45:04 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <439043d5.358fbf72@aol.com> Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 10:45:04 EDT To: agaylard@fs2.gordontafe.edu.au, alyxmac@senet.com.au, ARIZONANC@aol.com, basir@brain.net.pk, Bernie2@pacbell.net, Blake@clubi.ie, bonniep@netvigator.com, Breezdancr@aol.com, brifrost@geocities.com, BRuthNic@aol.com, bwsimmons@juno.com, Cally59@aol.com, Capurchino@aol.com, cfredrikson@yahoo.com, christina.hoidn@stud.uni-regensburg.de, Chukchi1@aol.com, Ck0227@aol.com, clareofassisi@hotmail.com, coyote@email.gcn.net.tw, dand@oxy.edu, DaveMiller@aol.com, Desire666@aol.com, dthomas@stic.lib.tx.us, Dpcarney@aol.com, edhensley@earthlink.net, Edorset@aol.com, EDZIA3@aol.com, egerlach@bayflash.stpt.usf.edu, Eg1000@aol.com, Emily2D@aol.com, EmilyD1037@aol.com, EMOP22@aol.com, fergy4@hotmail.com, fg032@lennon.csufresno.edu, fmmurphy@unicom.net, haiku@singnet.com.sg, hathjh@essex.ac.uk, hbeng094@email.csun.edu, Heaverem@aol.com, HeptarchOn@aol.com, hufferm@iag.net, imago@netcomuk.co.uk, JBower@whc.net, jbrai@hotmail.com, jfernandez@norconsult.es, JGEMINI@aol.com, jheid@trinity.edu, jimreed@pdq.net, jmaples@hotmail.com, jpgustaf@facstaff.wisc.edu, JRoze@aol.com, jsapan@dnai.com, KARISA109@aol.com, KDE1981@aol.com, kikw@river.it.gvsu.edu, kit@castles.com, ksel4052@uriacc.uri.edu, langdell@cco.caltech.edu, lawagner@mindspring.com, ljordan@prysm.com, LouisFors@aol.com, LynleeD@aol.com, Maddav99x@aol.com, Margaret_H._Freeman@laccd.cc.ca.us, Martha_Nell_SMITH@umail.umd.edu, marycornelltaradash@worldnet.att.net, MARY_OLSTAD@mail.vcsu.nodak.edu, mdeck@cnxlol.com, MechV@aol.com, MICKIMBALL@aol.com, millerd@crius.faytech.cc.nc.us, MSELSASSER@aol.com, MSmith@brynmawr.edu, MTownsend1@aol.com, Mugendy@aol.com, munshi@atcon.com, natalieaed@webtv.net, Nogloe@aol.com, odonogc@stjohns.edu, oliver.kamm@virgin.net, PareoR@aol.com, paul@populus.net, Pearl77Jam@aol.com, Pinkertin@aol.com, Plulijo@aol.com, pnelson@goodnet.com, poetnic@yahoo.com, poetrybug@juno.com, pridgen@texas.net, Rach731@aol.com, rachel@pressenter.com, RemyLipert@aol.com, RISHI42@aol.com, Ryster1878@aol.com, s9522174@student.let.uva.nl, schloss@mail.com, simpkins@stolaf.edu, sjones@cablenet-va.com, SokrKixx@aol.com, spritch@gladstone.uoregon.edu, SSILVA@erols.com, Sunayo@aol.com, Sunflow899@aol.com, SunshineTn@aol.com, superfag@pacificnet.net, Tacitus33@aol.com, thekman@earthlink.net, TheoDeppe@aol.com, tjag@kconline.com, tmorris@utarlg.uta.edu, vangogh123@hotmail.com, virgogirl143@hotmail.com, WICH@rumms.uni-mannheim.de, WinterSand@aol.com, WWQUINTET@aol.com, YesPandora@aol.com, ZoeNJ@aol.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Subject: Fwd: #360 Death sets a Thing significant X-Mailer: AOL 3.0 16-bit for Windows sub 38 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="part0_898613105_boundary" X-UIDL: cf73f145ac04b922c962feea73b68612 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --part0_898613105_boundary Content-ID: <0_898613105@inet_out.mail.aol.com.1> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII --part0_898613105_boundary Content-ID: <0_898613105@inet_out.mail.aol.com.2> Content-type: message/rfc822 Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Content-disposition: inline From: LouisFors@aol.com Return-path: To: EmMail1@aol.com Subject: Re: #360 Death sets a Thing significant Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 14:13:45 EDT Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Kris wrote about # 360: > I wonder how many > of the people we feel close to hold these secrets about themselves -- > these parts of their personality that are their own and never actualized. > Friends: My mother died many years ago of ALS--the "Lou Gehrig's disease." The disease is a progressive one in which muscular control is lost and there is no know way to reverse the course of the terrible march. Mom got all of her "things in order," so that we'd know her wishes, the state of her finances, and such like. When she became bed-ridden she could still talk although the isolation was closing in. She asked me to fix a group of family pictures in a frame so she could see them. Her voice went--completely--although she could still write notes. The last note she wrote to me was "I want to die, please." Believing that would be the best course of action I begged her doctors. I could not help her gain her final wish. She lived about nine months after all forms of "output" from her was closed down. She could move nothing, not even her eyes, although I think I detected a terror in her stare. Whenever I saw her, or whenever my two children saw her, we wondered what to say. We decided to talk about ourselves, what we were up to, what her friends were doing, how much we loved her. We opened or closed blinds in her room, trying to "be helpful" without knowing. While waiting for her to die, my kids and I went through all of her possessions, finding those little things ED talked about, even while she was alive. I write about this because of Kris' remark above. Mom died with so many matters unsaid. We had no idea what she was thinking. And we were assured by doctors who were familiar with the disease that she was indeed thinking inside that powerless body. It is sort of an ultimate example of private matters reserved. I know this is way beyond the norm of Kris' question. But the extreme serves to represent the regular. I find the poem a powerful one. I have learned from all of the posts. It is also one of ED's poems in which I find no additional levels of meaning. It is so precise. Thanks, Louis --part0_898613105_boundary--