MS Strength

I found the following USA Today news story on Facebook this morning. I didn’t realize the famed author of the Harry Potter series had a mother who was affected by multiple sclerosis. Apparently J.K. Rowling’s own mother died from complications related to MS when Rowling was young, and it has shaped the writer’s own understanding of illness, loss, and helping others. Having been catapulted to fame and fortune with her novels, Rowling has recently donated a large sum, $15.4 million, to the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) to create a research center for multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative illnesses.

Delaware Area MS Online Chat
Friday 13 August, 7:00 – 9:00 pm, EST
Topic: Emergency Preparedness
Open conversation 7:00 – 8:00 pm
Topic begins at 8:00 pm

On Friday the 13th, let’s discuss what to do when really bad weather strikes. Are you prepared for a flood, hurricane, or heat wave? Can you manage if no one can get to you for several days? Let’s discuss ideas for being ready for the unpredictability of our situations when the weather gets nasty.

I’ll share information from a Delaware Emergency Preparedness Forum that I’m attending Thursday. This will be hosted by the University of Delaware’s Center for Disabilities Studies and is part of Delaware’s Workgroup on Emergency Preparedness for Individuals with Non-Typical Functional Needs.

If you are uncomfortable typing, you are still welcome to come and watch the conversation. Chat is open to everyone and you don’t have to be from the Delaware area to attend. To join, visit A Short in the Cord and click on the coffee cup or “Enter My Chat Room” in the upper right of the page.

Dalai Lama: “Spiritual practice involves, on the one hand, acting out of concern for others’ well-being. On the other, it entails transforming ourselves so that we become more readily disposed to do so.”

Just thought this was so eloquent and true. I love the Dalai Lama’s ideology, quiet intelligence, and life force. I’m not a follower of organized Western religion (early Catholicism beat it out of me), but I definitely consider myself spiritual. I think this hits the nail right on the head and I appreciate the Eastern religions’ values placed upon the population as a whole— worship is not just viewed as a vehicle for individuals’ wants, needs, desires, and ultimate redemptions. Selfless and what I imagine true spirituality to be.