Mark Story's LHL article about the "Fencing Posture"

I played my last softball game two years ago. I had just clumsily fell back when going after a fly ball and whip-lashed the back of my head onto the relatively soft grass in the outfield. I had a head injury (concussion and subdural brain hematoma). That was the first inning of a double header for the championship of the Columbus over 70 league. I was momentarily out and I know not if I exhibited the "Fencing Posture", but I continued and our team won the Championship. I think I helped.

After a subsequent few days in the hospital, when the spot was discovered and didn't go away, I thought that maybe it was better to live on doing other things than playing the game I dearly love. I was fortunate in that the hematoma went away on the follow-up brain scan 30 days later. Some are not that fortunate, and the bleeding expands and causes serious problems, even death.

A University of kentucky researcher may have hit upon something to tell coaches and authorities when it is too dangerous for these young players to continue playing immediately when they exhibit the "Fencing Posture" after a head injury.

SamKat

Please read the following story by Mark Story of the Lexington Herald Leader in today's newspaper:





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Sports - Sports Columnists - Mark Story
Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009
Comments (0) | Recommend (0)
YouTube videos help UK researcher identify concussions
Youtube 'knockout videos' reveal evidence of head injuries
Mark Story - Herald-Leader Sports Columnist
University of Kentucky researcher Jonathan Lifshitz may be about to dispel one of modern society's few ironclad certainties.

It has been a truth rarely debated that nothing productive ever comes from watching videos on YouTube.

Until now.



Charles Bertram | Staff
UK researcher Jonathan Lifshitz displayed a YouTube video of former Wildcat Myron Pryor delivering a crushing hit on Georgia's Mario Raley in a 2006 game, at the University of Kentucky Biomedical/Biological Sciences Research Building,

See an example of the fencing response
Lifshitz and associates may have discovered a way to help ensure the safety of football players and other athletes who suffer head injuries during athletic events.

And it all began from a bit of mindless fun watching clips of crushing tackles from football games on YouTube.

Lifshitz, a Ph.D working as an assistant professor in UK's Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, said he caught one of his assistants, Ario Hosseini, on the video-sharing Web site.

"Ario was watching big helmet-to-helmet tackles, some hits from MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) matches, things where guys got knocked out," Lifshitz said recently.

Seeing a teachable moment, Lifshitz encouraged Hosseini and other staffers to see if they could see anything in common from the "knockout hits" they were viewing on YouTube that might help detect symptoms of concussions.

Once they really started looking, they did.

After watching some three dozen "knockout videos" on YouTube, Lifshitz, a 35-year-old father of three, and his team kept noticing that frequently just after the blow to the head there was an involuntary movement of an arm into a position similar to the en garde pose in fencing.

They now call the phenomenon The Fencing Response.

You can see an example of "fencing" in a crushing hit Pittsburgh's Ryan Clark put on Baltimore's Willis McGahee in last season's AFC Championship Game.

"That was a massive helmet-on-helmet hit," Lifshitz said. "You can clearly see McGahee's arms fencing after the collision."

Another example of fencing was apparent when Kentucky defensive tackle Myron Pryor obliterated Georgia wide receiver Mario Raley on an inside screen play in UK's 2006 upset of the Bulldogs.

While on the ground immediately after the hit, you can observe Raley's left arm assuming the en garde posture.

"That wasn't a part of our study because we didn't know about the video at that time," Lifshitz said. "But it is a great example of 'fencing.'"

Of 35 YouTube videos that featured hits that Lifshitz and Co. knew yielded concussions, 66 percent of the people on the receiving end of the blows displayed fencing.

Next, the UK researchers used lab rats to see if the phenomenon also existed with them.

At moderate impact applied to the rats' heads, 39 of 44 showed a fencing response; at mild impact, zero of 19 rats did so.

Helping trainers say no

For a layman's explanation of why the fencing phenomenon occurs, Lifshitz said the impact on the part of the brain that causes a concussion also can affect a nearby area that controls arm movement.

Lifshitz said he hopes his study can help athletics trainers, especially at the high school level, by providing another objective criteria to say no if coaches and/or parents are pressing for a player who suffered a potential concussion to return to a game.

"If the trainer can say, 'No, he fenced and that's usually a sign of a concussion,' then that is one more weapon in the arsenal to make sure athletes aren't put in dangerous situations," Lifshitz said.

The UK researcher cautions that an absence of an arm assuming the fencing position after a blow to the head should not be taken as a certainty that the player has not suffered a concussion.

"If there is no fencing, there can still be a concussion," he said.

Jim Madaleno, UK's director of sports medicine and the head trainer for the Wildcats' football team, said he has notified other Southeastern Conference schools of the fencing posture study.

"I believe they are on to something," Madaleno said. "I do think there needs to be further study in terms of how (a fencing posture occurrence) translates into severity of injury and return-to-play decisions."

Madaleno said he is gathering several years of UK practice and game tape to turn over to Lifshitz for additional study.

In addition to football and other contact sports, Lifshitz believes knowledge of the fencing posture could be helpful to the U.S. military in deciding when to return service people who receive head injuries back to combat.

But in the short term, "I really hope we can get the word out to high school football trainers," Lifshitz said. "I think this could make a big difference for them in return-to-game (decisions)."

And to think: The whole study began with goofing off on YouTube.

Reach Mark Story at (859) 231-3230 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3230, or mstory@herald-leader.com. Your e-mail could appear on the blog Read Mark Story's E-mail at Kentucky.com.

Explaining death- Pat Richards Whitehead e-mail

I love the profound things of life, Pat. You bring a lot of them to my table. thanks!
----- Original Message -----
From: Patricia Whitehead
To: Sam Kegley
Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 10:42 PM
Subject: What A Wonder Way To Explain Death






I have never heard it quite this way but it is a beautiful way to explain it!



~DEATH~
WHAT A WONDERFUL WAY
TO EXPLAIN IT ..

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to
Leave the examination room and said,
'Doctor, I am afraid to die.
Tell me what lies on the othe
r side.'
Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know.'
'You don't know? You're a Christian man,
and don't know what's on the other side?'
The doctor was holding the handle of the door;
On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,
And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room
And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said,
'Did you notice my dog?
He's never been in this room before.
He didn't know what was inside.
He knew nothing except that his master was here,
And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
I know little of what is on the other side of death,
But I do know one thing...
I know my Master is there and that is enough.'



May today there be peace within you.
May you trust God
that you are exactly
Where you are meant to be.
I believe that friends
are quiet angels
Who lift us to our feet
when our wings
Have trouble remembering
how to fly.

Bill to control the internet- Thanks Marge.

____________________________________

Subj: oh boy......



CNET NEWS
August 28, 2009 12:34 AM PDT


Bill would give president emergency control of Internet






Internet companies and civil liberties groups were _alarmed_
(http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10200710-38.html) this spring when a U.S. Senate
bill _proposed_ (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s.00773:)
handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from
the Internet. They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting
behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of
S.773 (_excerpt_
(http://www.politechbot.com/docs/rockefeller.revised.cybersecurity.draft.082709.pdf) ), which still appears to permit the president to
seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called
cybersecurity emergency

The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity
emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's
necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a
federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a
requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be
managed by people who have been awarded that license.

"I think the redraft, while improved, remains troubling due to its
vagueness," said Larry Clinton, president of the _Internet Security Alliance_
(http://www.isalliance.org/) , which counts representatives of Verizon,
Verisign, Nortel, and Carnegie Mellon University on its board. "It is unclear what
authority Sen. Rockefeller thinks is necessary over the private sector.
Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the
bill."

Representatives of other large Internet and telecommunications companies
expressed concerns about the bill in a teleconference with Rockefeller's
aides this week, but were not immediately available for interviews on
Thursday.

A spokesman for Rockefeller also declined to comment on the record
Thursday, saying that many people were unavailable because of the summer recess. A
Senate source familiar with the bill compared the president's power to
take control of portions of the Internet to what President Bush did when
grounding all aircraft on Sept. 11, 2001. The source said that one primary
concern was the electrical grid, and what would happen if it were attacked from
a broadband connection.

When Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Commerce committee, and
Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced the original bill in April, they _claimed_
(http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&Pr
essRelease_id=bb7223ef-1d78-4de4-b1d5-4cf54fc38662) it was vital to
protect national cybersecurity. "We must protect our critical infrastructure at
all costs--from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights
and electronic health records," Rockefeller said.

The Rockefeller proposal plays out against a broader concern in
Washington, D.C., about the government's role in cybersecurity. In May, President
Obama _acknowledged_ (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10252154-38.html)
that the government is "not as prepared" as it should be to respond to
disruptions and announced that a new cybersecurity coordinator position would be
created inside the White House staff. Three months later, that post remains
empty, one top cybersecurity aide _has quit_
(http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/08/white-house-cyber-czar-quits.html) , and some wags have
begun to wonder why a government that _receives failing marks_
(http://news.cnet.com/DHS-scores-F-on-cybersecurity-report-card/2100-1009_3-6050520.html)
on cybersecurity should be trusted to instruct the private sector what to
do.

Rockefeller's revised legislation seeks to reshuffle the way the federal
government addresses the topic. It requires a "cybersecurity workforce plan"
from every federal agency, a "dashboard" pilot project, measurements of
hiring effectiveness, and the implementation of a "comprehensive national
cybersecurity strategy" in six months--even though its mandatory legal review
will take a year to complete.

The privacy implications of sweeping changes implemented before the legal
review is finished worry _Lee Tien_ (http://www.eff.org/about/staff) , a
senior staff attorney with the _Electronic Frontier Foundation_
(http://www.eff.org/) in San Francisco. "As soon as you're saying that the federal
government is going to be exercising this kind of power over private networks,
it's going to be a really big issue," he says.

Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which
permits the president to "direct the national response to the cyber threat" if
necessary for "the national defense and security." The White House is
supposed to engage in "periodic mapping" of private networks deemed to be
critical, and those companies "shall share" requested information with the
federal government. ("Cyber" is defined as anything having to do with the
Internet, telecommunications, computers, or computer networks.)

"The language has changed but it doesn't contain any real additional
limits," EFF's Tien says. "It simply switches the more direct and obvious
language they had originally to the more ambiguous (version)...The designation of
what is a critical infrastructure system or network as far as I can tell
has no specific process. There's no provision for any administrative process
or review. That's where the problems seem to start. And then you have the
amorphous powers that go along with it."

Translation: If your company is deemed "critical," a new set of
regulations kick in involving who you can hire, what information you must disclose,
and when the government would exercise control over your computers or
network.

The Internet Security Alliance's Clinton adds that his group is
"supportive of increased federal involvement to enhance cyber security, but we
believe that the wrong approach, as embodied in this bill as introduced, will be
counterproductive both from an national economic and national secuity
perspective."

_http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-773_
(http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-773)

Article on TK-Politician

*Remembering the Darker Side of Teddy Kennedy *

By Mona Charen


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*http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |* The death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, we
are being told, should strengthen our resolve to act in a bipartisan
fashion. Many of the tributes, from former presidents and Republican
colleagues, have stressed the late senator's willingness to find "common
ground." Well, since ancient Rome we've been exhorted not to speak ill of
the dead. But neither should we completely disfigure the truth.


Before offering some less than hagiographic reflections on the late Sen.
Edward Kennedy (may he rest in peace), one pleasant memory: About a decade
ago, I was late for a party in northwest Washington D.C. — a neighborhood
not known for abundant parking spaces. After circling the block several
times, I spied a cramped space and determined that somehow I was going to
fit my minivan into it. Just then, a large man approached walking two
Portuguese Water Dogs. He stopped, saw my predicament, and proceeded to
guide me into the space with lots of laughter, encouragement, and a little
bit of teasing. I knew (obviously) that my Good Samaritan was the senior
senator from Massachusetts. I have no reason to think he recognized me.


So I have personal experience of Teddy Kennedy's charm and affability. The
many stories of his personal kindnesses to others (including those with whom
he disagreed politically) speak well of him — to a point. But Kennedy was a
politician who too often permitted his own sense of righteousness to
overwhelm the large reservoir of decency that he is reported to have
possessed. He could trample on conservatives with, it seems, hardly a pang
of conscience. He may have been the "great liberal lion" of the U.S. Senate,
but some of us cannot forget that his tactics were often low and
dishonorable.


Former President George W. Bush was characteristically gracious about
Kennedy ("a great man") in his comments since his death, but Kennedy went
after Bush utterly without scruple. Consider Kennedy's shrill attacks on
President Bush's decision to invade Iraq. In 2002, Sen. Kennedy himself had
said, "There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein's regime is a serious danger,
that he is a tyrant, and that his pursuit of lethal weapons of mass
destruction cannot be tolerated. He must be disarmed." But just a year
later, Kennedy was saying, "This was made up in Texas, announced in January
to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going
to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud." In 2004, Kennedy
said, "Before the war, week after week after week we were told lie after lie
after lie after lie … the president's war is revealed as mindless, needless,
senseless, reckless."


Kennedy did not — perhaps could not — accept that the Bush administration
had made a good faith decision to use military force (as his brother did in
the Bay of Pigs and Vietnam). Instead, he contributed to conspiracy theories
about Bush's true motives. Echoing the most inflamed leftist websites,
Kennedy alleged that "the President and his senior aides began the march to
war in Iraq in the earliest days of the administration, long before the
terrorists struck this nation on 9/11."


When the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison came to light, disgust and abhorrence
were expressed pretty universally and certainly bipartisanly. But Kennedy,
unable to resist a cheap political shot, actually compared the U.S. to
Saddam Hussein, saying, "Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam's torture
chambers reopened under new management — U.S. management."


Sen. Kennedy's rhetorical ruthlessness was perhaps most famously displayed
within minutes of the nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court.
The world now knows that Bob Bork is one of the most intelligent, witty,
reasonable, and civilized men in America. But at the time, few knew anything
about him. Kennedy rushed to the Senate floor to introduce a grotesque
bogeyman: "Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced
into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters,
rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids,
schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists
could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the
Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom
the judiciary is — and is often the only — protector of the individual
rights that are the heart of our democracy."


Judge Bork recounted later that when he met privately with the senator,
Kennedy mumbled, "Nothing personal." When you have calumniated a man before
the entire world, you cannot claim that it isn't personal.


One hopes that the Kennedy family will find comfort in the days ahead. But I
cannot join those who uphold Teddy Kennedy as a model public servant, far
less as an exemplar of any sort of bipartisanship.

Texas Health Care- Tort Reform

----- Original Message -----
From: Ralph Hovermale
To: Ralph Hovermale
Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 8:26 PM
Subject: HC Reform That IS Working In Texas - Why Not A National Plan?






Health care reform that actually works!
By William Tate

"Where's the Republican plan?"

It's one of the red herrings that apologists for Obamacare pull out of their bag of clichéd talking points when pressed to justify Democrats' attempt to grab control of 18% of the nation's economy.

Well, here's a modest proposal. Rather than looking to Massachusetts or Tennessee for examples of health care reform, why not look to Texas ?

The Lone Stare state has its problems, but in recent years it has made major progress in improving health care availability, especially in predominantly poor and minority regions. Being Texas , the solution wasn't budget-busting, either.

Their answer? They got rid of the lawyers.

Not literally. But they did take on that perennial pillar of the Democrat Party, the trial lawyers.

In an Op-Ed published in the San Francisco Examiner earlier this month, Texas Governor Perry points out that in 2003 the state implemented laws that shielded health care providers from trial lawyers "anxious to make a quick buck."

"We capped noneconomic damages at $250,000 per defendant, or up to $750,000 per incident, while placing no cap on more easily determined economic damages, such as lost wages or costs of medical care due to injury.

"We ended the practice of allowing baseless but expensive lawsuits to drag on indefinitely, requiring plaintiffs to provide expert witness reports to support their claims within four months of filing suit or drop the case...

"Changes were seen immediately, and continue to be felt. All major liability insurers cut their rates upon passage of our reforms, with most of those cuts ranging in the double-digits. More than 10 new insurance carriers entered the Texas market, increasing competition and further lowering costs.

"As a result, Texas doctors have seen their insurance rates decline by an average of 27 percent.

"The number of doctors applying to practice medicine in Texas has skyrocketed by 57 percent."

At a time when a debate rages over whether the U.S. has enough doctors, Texas has seen its number of doctors leap by about 15,000. And Perry points out that tort reform has brought service to critically underserved, predominantly minority and poor communities.

"The number of obstetricians practicing in rural Texas is up by 27 percent, and 12 counties that previously had no obstetricians now have at least one. The statistics show major gains in fields like orthopedic surgery, pediatrics, neurosurgery and emergency medicine.

The Rio Grande Valley has seen an 18 percent growth in applications to practice medicine, adding about 200 doctors to this critically underserved area."

According to state Representative Joe Nixon, many of Texas ' news physicians have moved to rural or underserved areas, and " Texas , once listed as 47th worst state in the ratio of doctors per citizen, will soon be in the lower 30s and improving."

Perry says Texas tort reform has had other benefits to patients:

"And what about the money that used to go to defending all those frivolous lawsuits? You can find it in budgets for upgraded equipment, expanded emergency rooms, patient safety programs and improved primary and charity care."

Further, according to the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, tort reform has resulted in an improvement in the quality of health care in Texas , with the percentage of complaints about medical care actually going down.

Yet, despite the striking evidence of tort reform benefits in the nation's second most populous state, this simple, basic and essential component of health care reform is completely missing from all Democrat proposals.

According to opensecrets.org, Democrats received over $178,000,000 from lawyers' donations during the 2008 election cycle -- three times what they donated to Republicans. Over $43,000,000 of that went to the Obama campaign.

Forty-three million reasons why Obamacare doesn't include the one component of health care reform that has been proven to work: tort reform.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------










No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.409 / Virus Database: 270.13.71/2330 - Release Date: 08/28/09 06:26:00

What o has done! - Nita e-mail

Thanks Nita!

Osama could do no worse things to our country than little o has done already. Are we set up for the kill which will dwarf 911? Am I insulting the mafia by suspecting they are in on this humongous diabolitical plot?

Our media were infiltrated through the libs in journalism schools throughout this once great country. They are happy with their win which set the proletariat, us- US- the conservative Americans into our dilemma.

Many libs will go down with us but that is small consolation. I want much better for them and for us.

Are none of these impeachable offenses?

Would that we had people truly representing our thoughts in "officialdom"?

God, please continue to bless America with common sense.

Sam


----- Original Message -----
From: Nita Elliott
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 6:24 PM
Subject: Fw: Let's review an itemized list of some of Barack Obama's most recent actions since his inauguration









Whether you are an Obama fan,
or not, EVERYONE IN THE U. S. needs to know....



Something happened... H.R. 1388 was passed yesterday,
behind our backs. You may want to read about it. It
wasn't mentioned on the news... just went by on the
ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen.



Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas
Refugees to the USA . This is the news that didn't make
the headlines....



By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the
expenditure of $20.3 million in "migration
assistance" to the Palestinian refugees and
"conflict victims" in Gaza .



The "presidential determination", which allows
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to
resettle in the United States , was signed on January 27 and
appeared in the Federal Register on February 4.



Few on Capitol Hill, or in the media, took note that the
order provides a f ree ticket replete with housing and food
allowances to individuals who have displayed their
overwhelming support to the Islamic Resistance Movement
(Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.



Let's review...itemized list of some of Barack
Obama's most recent actions since his inauguration:



His first call to any head of state, as president, was to
Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah party in the Palestinian
territory.



His first one-on-one television interview with any news
organization was with Al Arabia television.



His first executive order was to fund/facilitate
abortion(s) not just here within the U. S. , but within the
world, using U. S. tax payer funds.



He ordered Guantanamo Bay closed and all military trials of
detainees halted.



He ordered overseas CIA interrogation centers closed.



He withdrew all charges against the masterminds behind the
USS Cole and the "terror attack" on 9/11.



Now we learn that he is allowing hundreds of thousands of
Palestinian refuges to move to, and live in, the US at
American taxpayer expense.



These important, and insightful, issues are being
"lost" in the blinding bail-outs and
"stimulation" packages.



Doubtful? To verify this for yourself:

www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488



PLEASE PASS THIS ON... AMERICA NEEDS TO KNOW



WE are losing this country at a rapid
pace.

Mother from Pat Richards Whitehead e-mail

Subject: Mother
> >
> > This is a truly BEAUTIFUL.
> >
> > Please read this at a slow pace, digesting every word
> and in leisure...do
> > not hurry....this is a treasure...
> >
> > For those lucky to still be blessed with your Mom,
> this is beautiful. For
> > those of us who aren't, this is even more beautiful.
> For those who are moms,
> > you'll love this.
> >
> >
> > The young mother set her foot on the path of life.
> > 'Is this the long way?' she asked. And the guide
> said: 'Yes, and the way is
> > hard.
> > And you will be old before you reach the end of it.
> But the end will be
> > better than the beginning.'
> >
> >
> > But the young mother was happy, and she would not
> believe that anything
> > could be better than these years. So she played with
> her children, and
> > gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed
> them in the clear
> > streams; and the sun shone on them, and the young
> Mother cried, 'Nothing
> > will ever be lovelier than this.'
> >
> >
> > Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was
> dark, and the children
> > shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them
> close and covered them
> > with her mantle, and the children said, 'Mother, we
> are not afraid, for you
> > are near, and no harm can come.'
> >
> >
> > And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and
> the children climbed
> > and grew weary, and the mother was weary.
> > But at all times she said to the children,' A little
> patience and we are
> > there.'
> > < STRONG>So the children climbed, and when they
> reached the top they said,
> > 'Mother, we would not have done it without you.'
> >
> > And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up
> at the stars and said,
> > 'This is a better day than the last, for my children
> have learned fortitude
> > in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them
> courage.
> > Today, I've given them strength.'
> >
> > And the next day came strange clouds which darkened
> the earth, clouds of war
> > and hate and evil, and the children groped and
> stumbled, and the mother
> > said: 'Look up. Lift your eyes to the light.
> > 'And the children looked and saw above the clouds an
> everlasting glory, and
> > it guided them beyond the darkness. And that night the
> Mother said, 'This is
> > the best day of all, for I have shown my children
> God.'
> >
> >
> > And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and
> the years, and the
> > mother grew old and she was little and bent.
> > But her children were tall and strong, and walked with
> courage. And when
> > the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as
> light as a feather; and
> > at last they came to a hill, and beyond they could see
> a shining road and
> > golden gates flung wide. And mother said, 'I have
> reached the end of my
> > journey. And now I know the end is better than the
> beginning, for my
> > children can walk alone, and their children after
> them.'
> >
> >
> > And the children said, 'You will always walk with us,
> Mother, even when you
> > have gone through the gates.'
> > And they stood and watched her as she went on alone,
> and the gates closed
> > after her. And they said: 'We cannot see her but
> she is with us still. A
> > Mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a
> living presence.......'
> >
> >
> > Your Mother is always with you.... She's the whisper
> of the leaves as you
> > walk down the street; she's the smell of bleach in
> your freshly laundered
> > socks; she's the cool hand on your brow when you're
> not well. Your Mother
> > lives inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in
> every tear drop.
> > She's the place you came from, your first home; and
> she's the map you follow
> > with every step you take. She's your first love and
> your first heartbreak,
> > and nothing on earth can separate you.
> > Not time, not space... not even death!< /B>
> >
> >
> > If you still have Her near, then Cherish and Adore
> Her, For once she's gone,
> > there's no going back!
> >
> > If she has passed, then never forget her, For when you
> have passed, she will
> > be the first waiting for you.
> >
> > PASS THIS ON TO ALL THE MOTHERS & CHILDREN YOU
> KNOW.
> > MAY WE NEVER TAKE OUR MOTHERS FOR GRANTED...
> >
> > Pass it on to the men...because they have
> mothers, too.