LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- April 8, 2008
Dear Readers,
Spring has been teasing us the past few weeks, a few rays of sun, some warmth, then snow and cold. Trust me, spring will arrive. I look forward to spring with great anticipation because snow, mud, and wheelchairs are a poor combination.
Spring also brings new opportunities and renewed hope. For me, part of this renewed hope is that it is the time of year for the annual MS Walk. I believe that large tasks are made easier when many share the load. Finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis is a large task, and the MS Walk is an opportunity for people to join together and share a load that people with MS cannot carry alone. Two ways this load can be shared are you can register and participate in the MS Walk or, if you are unable to join the Walk, you can share the load by sponsoring someone who is participating in the Walk.
I have participated in the MS Walk for the past five years. My main interest and primary purpose for participating in the MS Walk is to generate funding to help researchers find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. I am one of an estimated 75,000 Canadians to have Multiple Sclerosis, and at this stage of my life and the development of my MS, research is my only hope to once again be able to walk, to rejoin the workforce, to participate fully in our society, and to fully enjoy my life. I wish this for everyone afflicted by a chronic illness and, considering advances in medical knowledge and technology, I am not without hope.
Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord. It is the most common neurological disease of young adults in Canada. Women are three times more likely to develop MS than men. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 40, although many more children, some as young as three years of age, are now being diagnosed. Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis include vision problems, extreme fatigue, loss of balance, pain, depression, memory problems, loss of co-ordination, and paralysis.
Research has made many inroads to finding the cause and developing new treatments for MS. Just a decade ago there were no therapies for MS. Today, there are several therapies that reduce the frequency and severity of attacks, although these treatments are only partially effective, are only moderately tolerable, require frequent injections, and are very expensive. Research has made a difference in the lives of people with MS, and research is the key to finding a cure.
I will be participating in the South Okanagan - Similkameen MS Walk on April 27 in Penticton and I am asking you to share the load. The MS Society, like all good charitable organizations, allows contributors to direct their contribution.
Therefore, if you wish to direct your contribution to research, please make your cheque payable to the MS Society - Research Only. If you wish to direct your contribution to programs and services provided in the South Okanagan, please make your cheque payable to the MS Society - BC Division. The point of sharing the load is that your share of the load needn't be large.
A tax deductible receipt will be issued for all contributions of $15 or greater. Please send your cheque to Ken Carlson, Box 1354, Princeton, BC V0X 1W0.
If you would like to participate in the MS Walk you can register online at www.mssociety.ca.
Thank you for sharing,
- Ken Carlson, Princeton
To The Editor;
While a person is entitled to their own opinions on any subject, like most readers of a newspaper, I do take exceptions at an error of facts. This is the case in a recent article written by Dawn Johnson entitled "What do Women Want?"
My view of that is that we are created with a plan and a purpose for our role in society as we trod this pathway of life on earth rather than drifting aimlessly or selfishly along.
The actual error that Dawn made was in her statement that during World War II, there were women in the Canadian Army and Air Force but NO women in the Navy. This surprised me because I served in the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS) along with about 5,000 other Wrens. The Navy was known as the Senior Service. When the Tri Services marched in a Victory Bonds Parade etc. we were always first, followed by the Cwacs then the W.D.'s. I have attended a few Reunions for the Wrens and Tri Services.
My reason for volunteering to sign up on my eighteenth birthday was to make some kind of contribution to see the war come to an end. The Basic Training Centre was H.M.C.S. Conestoga at Galt, Ontario. I was kept on with the Ship's Company as a Tailoress. We fitted and altered the uniforms for the new entries, plus all types of sewing needs for the Ship. When recruiting stopped and the ship was decommissioned I was stationed at HMCS Stadacona in Halifax. Little did I know that my life would be changed forever while there.
Briefly, a disastrous incident occurred in July, 1945 when every person living in Nova Scotia helplessly faced a possible death for almost 40 hours. Rules were broken when a sailor lit a cigarette while guarding a ship at dinner time that was loading ammunition on the Dartmouth side of the Harbour. There was a huge explosion that shocked people for miles around.
The Wrens were loaded on Transport trucks and taken to Point Pleasant Park to be away from buildings. Blankets were brought for us to lie on in orderly rows. The first explosion caused a forest fire that ignited the munition dumps, one after another that lighted the skies. Ships sailed out of the harbour with just running lights on in spite of the German U boats that lurked near the entrance.
The Vice Admiral of the Eastern Command arrived in the morning with a megaphone to explain what was happening and stressed the need for us to pray for God to change the direction of the wind so the forest fires could be extinguished to stop all the munition dumps from exploding. He returned at 2:00 PM to tell us the trucks were coming to take us back to our ship as we would be no safer where we were.
The cooks and stewardesses would prepare a meal but there was excused duty for most of us as he emphasized the need to stay in prayer. I ran to my cabin to get my only $2.50 and stood in the lineup at the pay phone. My Mom was glued to the radio. I explained the urgent situation and asked her to phone as many churches in Toronto as she could with the Vice Admiral's message that except God change the direction of the wind the main ammunition dump at the head of the Bedford Basin would blow the entire province into the Atlantic Ocean.
That three-minute conversation ended with, "Cheerio, Mom. If I don't see you again I'll meet you in Heaven."
It was a life changing experience for most of us when we learned the power of the fervent effectual prayer of the Believers. About 9:00 AM the 'All Clear' came.
The wind had died right down to enable the firefighters to extinguish the flames and stop further explosions. The Orders came to 'resume duties.'
So it was very rewarding to sacrifice food and sleep and realize there was a purpose in flexing our spiritual muscles. After VE Day in May, 1945 I had signed up to stay in the Navy during the Japanese Theatre of war for which I have been very thankful I made that decision.
I did not have the fear of death as I noticed many tearful Wrens had so I took the opportunity to share my faith.
I also made a commitment to Father God that because my life was spared I would serve Him for the rest of my days.
Thus my opinion of , "What does a woman want" differs from Dawn's.
It is God's plan and purpose for women to be a channel of blessing to others according to the encouraging instructions in Proverbs Chapter 31.
- Kay Hardy, Princeton
To The Editor;
I suppose it's a waste of time to try to prod our council into more action on the doctor front? They seem to have the attitude that there's no use in hounding government because it will do no use. Baloney. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. When was our Mayor last in Victoria pleading our case? How many times a month does George Abbott hear the word Princeton?
And I haven't seen any reference to attempts to ensure the short and long term future. Do they think the town is going to shut down, and that it won't need doctors five years hence? Or that an unexpected miracle will occur and the situation will solve itself?
How about this? Offer one first year, one second year and one third year student a short term freebie.
Or move it to fourth year, third year and second year if possible. Pay their past tuition and living cost, their current and their future ones until graduation.
In return, get a contract that each will live and work here for five consecutive years after graduation.
That would give us a new doctor per year after two, three and four years in the first instance, or after one, two and three in the second.
Three new doctors at the end of it. Add the cost to our tax rolls. Their presence would keep us alive to pay it. And spread it over our tax base (which would continue to grow rather than shrinking because of the lack of doctors) it would hardly hurt a bit. Less than the absence of doctors, anyway.
Something to phone your councillors about.
- Murray Woodward, Princeton
