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Ground Control to Major Tom...

The classic David Bowie rock ballad is running through my head as I sit in my power wheelchair with my v-pap strapped to my face. I mean, how space age is this?! And I'm communicating with human beings all over the planet from my Tobii.

When I was a kid, the Viet Nam war was regularly on the news.  The Bay of Pigs was a reality. There was no such thing as a reality shows. Astronauts walked on the moon and we watched it on TV. We stood up at the beginning of class and put our right hand over our heart and pledged allegiance to the flag and the United States of America.

I watched The Nightly News with Walter Cronkite, Dragnet, Lawrence Welk,  Hee Haw, and Laugh In with my grandfather. I watched Sesame Street, Mister Roger's Neighborhood, the Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Wild Kingdom, Disney, and lots of cartoons. With my mom, I watched Dark Shadows, Peyton Place, Days of our Lives, Twilight Zone, and movies, especially scary ones.

You know what's scary? All the things we used to be scared of are no longer scary. Like the Vietnamese, Russians, and African Americans. Mystery lifted, fear dispelled. Aliens, okay fear of aliens is box office magic, but we feel pretty safe from life "out there". War, yes war is a worry, but  it's different these days. We hate the toll taken of soldier's lives, but some are oblivious or focused on the economics of war..Otherwise, war feels more like a nasty Xbox or PSP game these days, and it's not.

It seems as if the biggest fear now is threats to our health and well being. Ebola, enterovirus 64, e-coli, flu.... Where's ALS in this mix? Ground control to Major Tom... We are dying out here...A slow /fast  death, depending upon your point of view...No known cause...No known cure...Certain death... Cruel twist of fate, paralyzing the healthy and active.

Major Tom, can you help?
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Location: Federal Way, WA, USA

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