and a very merry christmas to you and your family john.   we do indeed
have a lot to be thankful for.  at least we are on this side of the
grass to complain about how brown the grass looks right now this time f
the year.

i think one of the most humbling things i have experienced in my life
and just how tough some of the folks in this world have it was when i
was in the navy and the ship pulled into hong kong.  we have a crew on
board that takes care of the outside of the ship which includes the
painting of the ship.  it takes weeks and sometimes months to get the
job done.  

i saw three women bouncing around in a little sandpan type boat that
painted the surface of the ship from the main level down to the water
line in three days.  and they got paid the privilege of standing at our
scullery (where they wash the trays) and you would give one of these
women your tray and they would take what you didn't eat and place it in
different containers so be taken home to their families.  here we are -
throwing away food because we are either too full, got too much, or
didn't care for the way that "cookie" fried it up and at the same time,
others welcome what we didn't want.

just a few decades ago, if a man had prostate cancer, there wasn't much
that would be done for him.  and the treatment was sometimes a lot worse
than the pca.  the burns on the surface of the body, for example,  where
the radiation damaged the skin.   but it was the best that mankind could
do.  

today, we have been given hope where there was little light passing
through the cloud of impeding doom.   and the treatments are getting
better and better - more pain free as time passes on.   as well as the
research ongoing in trying to  defeat the pca.

yes, we have a lot to be thankful for and this time of the time, i think
we should pause and reflect not just on how much more precious life has
been made aware of by the pca, but also to reflect on the wonderful
folks and brotherhood that has  formed to bring people together from the
four corners of the world together - uniting us into one team - fighting
relentlessly - to give each other the encouragement to continue on - to
give support when times get tough.

i believe this newsgroup has done more to band folks together and to
bring about a better understanding of others, their cultures, their
beliefs, and upmost, the compassion for others, than all of the
politicians have ever tried to do in the past two hundred years.

happy holidays to one and all.

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc