On 17-Sep-00 Howard Lowndes wrote:
> David, as the father of an Olympic athelete, and one who is very aware of
> the sacrifices that my son has made to get where he is, I find your remark
> to be most offensive.
>
Dear Howard:
Please consider you son's sacrafices to my son Marcos', who has
spastic cerebal palsy. Completely paralised on the left side of his body at 3
months of age, he has endured an enormous amount of effort and hardship to be
able to go to school with all the other children of his age. The extreme
frustration of a very intelligent little boy (he was tested, and he super
bright) when he can't draw or cut paper, or run whithout many bruises from all
of the falls (we proudly show off all of bruises as a sign of achievement).
Or consider Caitlin, her mother has 5 children, husband left her when he found
out that Caitlin had CP. Caitlin has had almost no support because her mum is
struggling just to keep her children clothed and fed, we do what we can but it
is not enough. Caitlin is doomed to major deformaties from the degeneration of
her muscles due to CP because she does not receive enogh treatment.
Because of the cutbacks from government, there is no more therapy for most
children with CP, unless they are completely dependent, after the age of 5. If
we don't treat Marcos for two weeks, we can see a degradation, yet we are not
physios, we can't give him the best help he can get, but there is no one else.
Your son's sacrafices are purely by choice, and in the end, he will be the
main recipient of the benefits. He may go on to more substantial endeavours
later, and if he does, then he will have my utmost respect.
In this world of mass media, sport has become the modern religion, with
none of the major social benefits such as communitiy and moral guidance. While
sport is an important and wholesome part of life when it is part of the
community through intimate and continuous involvement, the olympics has become
a distortion.
When all of the schools have enough money, disabled children have enough
support to achieve their potential, the mentally ill and the aged are cared
for with dignity, then if we money left over, we should have an olympics.
I think that is what Andrw was trying to say.
I am posting this to the slug list because Howard chose to. If you want to
flame, I can accept that.
Erich Schulz
Instrumental Technologies
PO Box 6028, Lake Munmorah, NSW 2259
Ph: (+61)0500 551 228 , Fax: (+612) 43583113
Mob: 0408 201 228
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