A dear friend reports to me that she had chicken pox, and immediately I became curious about the name. Do chickens have pox? Do hogs or cows or ducks or have chickenpox, and would you call it duckpox? How can you cathch it? How can you tell under the feathers? Vets say no, that chickens do not have pox, and you can’t catch it from them. There are several variations on the word “Circe” reported to be the Old English root derived from the Latin which simply means young foul or chickpeas or any number of others things. Another suggestion is that pox are named after the imprint left on your arm when you gather eggs from under a hen and she doesn’t particularly like it and pecks you on the arm. I also investigated a term I got wrong: Pox Vobiscum. Found out it is Pax Vobiscum, Latin meaning, “Peace be with you.” There’s very little peace when you have chickenpox since you are occupied with the itch, itch, itch. Maybe Pox Vobiscum would be better, but then my Latin is a little itchy.
My new hobby of the morning is feeding a pet squirrel who has adopted me, or maybe I have adopted him. Early morning, I sit out on the patio listening to the birds, and a young squirrel comes begging every day. Now I take a handful of peanuts out every morning. He comes closer every day, and no longer is scared of the sound of my wheelchair. The downside is that when I have no peanuts and am just outside, he follows me around looking at me with those hungry eyes, his tail twitching and his nose quivvering.
Never to see the light of day or print is my old and continuing hobby,writing short stories. The least little event or idea will get in my head and roll around and around until I put it on paper with new characters that I can manipulate. Sometimes they manipulate me, and the story takes a new twist. Fun.
The United Methodist General Conference last week took at least two exciting steps forward in the field of disabilities signaling the importance of not only welcoming but seeking out the persons who are often on the fringe of things. The General Conference meets every four years, and there are clergy and lay representatives taking up the business of the church. First, they indicated the success of the national Task Force on Disabilities in doing its work by now designating it a standing committee in the Methodist organization. This has many advantage I won’t go in to here, but the evidence of this change will be seen in the near future. Thanks, Lynn Swedberg for your leadership, and thanks to all those who worked to make this passage a reality. It’s a big deal!
Second, the General Conference voted that every annual conference (it meets every year by area) will within the next quadrennium have disabilities as the conference theme. This decision puts everyone on notice that the one in five persons with a disability should find a church not only welcoming but seeking them. Now that’s a hurrah!
My own church, Chapelwood United Methodist, already does this, and the congregation is as blessed as the persons with disabilities who attend who have become part of the working business of Christ’s body.
If you suddenly became completely disabled, what would you do? Where would you turn for the help that could let you stay off the streets as a sick homeless person? Most of us haven’t given thought to that. Congress is getting ready to cut billions of dollars out of the program that lets a companion come in to keep you at home and cared for. They think they are saving money (we all know we are out of money), but this action is shortsighted since it costs four times as much to keep a person in a nursing home or other institution as it does to keep them at home with assistance. Where are the brains in this dilemma? Why is necessary for 76 demonstrators to address this issue to be arrested? As of June, the Back To Work Program will be cut. At a time when we need people employed and paying taxes, Congress is helping us make these jobs and people disappear with their magic eraser. If we don’t see them, they don’t exist.
Also speaking of money. Here is another dilemma. Transition programs have been cut that would allow a deaf person to receive training, get a job and pay taxes. Transition programs have disappeared because of budget cuts that would let our disabled high school graduates find a job, be a productive citizens and pay taxes. When these high school graduates have no place to go, guess what happens; a parent has to quit a job to stay home with them. More job cuts. One in five persons is disabled, so the ripple effect of this particular cut is not even measurable, but it is gigintic. All these valuable, disabled citizens are asking for is safety and a chance to be productive citizens.
I’ll step off my soap box to wish you happy spring and beautiful summer even though New England has snow. If you are one of the persons affected by these cuts, it is even more important to take a deep breath (if you can) and enjoy some moments celebrating the beauty around you. There ARE people out there going to jail for you, and there is HOPE someplace along the way.
The Methodist Church needs to stand up and shout that they invite, welcome and will integrate all persons with disabilities, and giving a taskforce elevated standing and responsibility as a committee is one way to declare and implement it.
Annual conferences of the United Methodist Church elect half lay and half ministerial delegates to attend the General Conference of the church. Petitions and legislations are presented at this conference. This year a very important piece will be presented to change the Taskforce on Disabilities to a Committee on Disabilities. The distinction is very important in a number of ways, more than I am an expert about, but I do know that the function of a task force is to gain information and work to complete a task. Thanks to dedicated personnel, the takforce has accomplished most of its goals, and now it needs to move ahead in a more recognized and important way.
Disabilities cut across the vast reach of the entire Methodist church. One in five persons has a disability, and many of these five have one or more caregivers, so congregations need to be aware of this statistic, and they need the help of a committee on disabilites of the Methodist Church to help them know how to serve these persons with safety and love. It’s not with malice that we do not serve these persons; it is basically that many churches do not know what to do and how to do it. A committee on disability will be a goldmine of information and inspiration. If you are a delegate, please vote to implement this committee. If you are not a delegate, please consider this important issue and pray for the General Conference that members may see with clarity that God’s love extends to everyone, and the church is a means for saying this.
It’s pretty well known that I like classical music, but I really like all kinds. My new favorite is the theme song for a public television program called “New Tricks,” and is about some chronologically aged persons who form a special detective task force for hard cases. The song goes like this, ”It’s all right. It’s okay. Doesn’t even matter if you’re old and gray. It’s all right. It’s all fine. Doesn’t even matter if the sun don’t shine. Listen to what I say.” Hope I didn’t break any laws by quoting this on line! Guess I like this song because I’m old and gray (white hair instead) and, although I don’t need a permission slip, it does provide one that says, “Yes. It’s okay!”
I think I could join New Tricks and I would have made a good detective since I always love a mystery, and I was inspired by my mom’s friend, Dovie Wells, who at the age of 60 sent off for a finger print training class by mail. We all got finger printed and classified, and Dovie always thought she would catch some crooks, but the crooks never left finger prints when they took her lawn mower, wheelbarrow and other outdoor things like chairs and a hammock. But she finished the class and was ready for ‘em.
Friends of Chamber Music at Rice University brought us the Vienna Piano Trio last night, three accomplished musicians who work together so much the think as one to create the best sounds in the business. As an “old” string player, I was awed by the first violinist who was so on target with such pure sounds, I figure the discipline required to become this good must have cost him a lot of time. We could all do well in using this kind of long term discipline in all parts of life.
All you Christians out there —Happy Easter, the time when Jesus becomes more and more alive to us and assures us that we can have new life both now and after death.
If you live in the Houston area, and haven’t heard the Houston Symphony, consider it now. Their playing of Elgar’s Enigma Variations last night shouted, “World Class,” and besides that it is a classy group. You won’t hear better anywhere in the world, and nothing beats actually feeling the music both inside your soul and in the reverberations from the bass that you can feel in the seat of your pants and your feet. Then there was spectacular and beautiful Hillary Hahn who opened the concert with a Prokofiev violin concerto that used unimaginable percussion cued in to the second. Of note was the frame of huge hanging chimes that required the musician to sit atop a ladder-like structure to strike the pipes. A live orchestra is a visual treat, too, and, after a while, you choose your favorite players to watch.
I started my close up player-watch last summer when I went to Herman Park to pick up free tickets to Miller Outdoor Theater orchestra concerts there, and I discovered that the orchestra rehearses about that same time the morning before the evening concert. Eventually, I went early and got to hear the music many times.
Music has many powers: it’s good for your body, it’s good for your soul, and besides, it makes a good date. Mine loves taking me there.
Haven’t seen it yet, but my new Quick Look Book for volunteer emergency responders has an ad in the online version of New Mobility. I also enjoy reading the beautiful, pictured and good paper copy of New Mobility for persons who are active wheelchair users. It’s also a good source of information on living a full life with other disabilities. Even the big ads give me information to know what is happening, who is making it and how to get it. I was once featured in their Verbatim section that gives stories about what other people are doing while using a wheelchair. If you have arthritis, multiple sclerosis or other impairments, you might want to take a look at a sample to find out if it is a good resource.
Just spent several days with the chair of the United Methodist Taskforce on Disability who taught me quite a few things. Ya’ll know I could stand a mountain of learning. Probably most of you already know about QR code, but I’d never heard of it. Best I can figure is it is like a bar code with art – not lines but embedded code that let you put your iphone up to the cute little square and instantly connect to a website. People put QR code on t-shirts, papers, posters, etc. It’s like shorthand for getting to where you want to go. The trick is you have to have an app on your phone that lets you read QR. I haven’t visited the app store yet to find out if it costs, so I’ll keep you posted, or you can comment back and educate me.