Here, here! Very well-put, Stephen! My mother would often dismiss my opinions with a "oh you don't know what you're talking about" even when the subject was politics. Consequently I refused to get into such discussions with her and she'd be frustrated because I'd change the topic. But I was tired of her belittling me and so I refused to play the game. I loved my mother dearly but she was hard to live with at times. Unfortunately it all left me with the reluctance to discuss things with people I don't know or trust and I know I can trust the people on this list not to put me down. Kat ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Allman" <[log in to unmask]> Newsgroups: bit.listserv.c-palsy To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, November 02, 2002 11:46 PM Subject: Group Discussions > When this group discusses subjects that effect everyone like the shootings or > the possibility of war this proves that our group cares. We are people that > have CP but our disability is not what we are. We care about people and it's > great we have this forum to discuss our thoughts and anything else we want to > talk about. > > This group discusses CP issues and they are very important to us but we > cannot and should not shut out the rest of the world. If we just talk about > CP issues we would exclude the rest of the world and this would be a boring > group to be in. We need to voice our thoughts and opinions because we care > about people. This group gives people the opportunity to voice their thoughts > and for many of us it may be the only place where people will listen to our > views. > > I do not post much but I read every email and I respect people that talk > about everything and not just CP issues. > > Stephen Allman