Notes of Concern….
….Jack Blair
DON’T CRY FOR ME SOUTH CAROLINA
The Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, went missing for a few days. It is hard for a Governor to be away from his office without the press pool noticing. The natural “next step” is to ask his office where he might be.
Now if the office has no idea where the Governor might be, they engage in a sort of hide and seek game. In this case, they suggested he was taking a hike on the Appalachian Trail.
Not a bad try.
If a guy takes off on the Appalachian Trail it is obvious that no one can find him and ask him questions.
Later, the Governor reported that he had actually had a tough legislative session and had gone off to Argentina to drive around and clear his head. Obviously, he wasn’t coordinating his story with the guys in his office.
Not a bad try.
But reporters are never satisfied with the “pat” answer. It was always just a matter of time before they uncovered the truth.
The Governor of South Carolina had, in fact, gone to Argentina. However, he had not gone there for rest and relaxation and a time away from the stress of official duties. He had gone there to meet his mistress. Well, perhaps that qualifies as “rest and relaxation.”
There also was a small problem of expenses being charged to the state of South Carolina for other trips to Argentina for similar purposes.
The Governor has gallantly suggested he repay the portion of his Argentina trips that involved the mistress, but not those portions that involved official business. Bet you didn’t know South Carolina had a foreign policy with reference to Argentina!
Back home, when reporters ask the First Lady of South Carolina where her husband was her response was that she didn’t know but wasn’t worried.
Not a bad try.
We have since learned that Governor Sanford had been carrying on this affair for over one year and that his wife did know about it.
When Evita Peron, or was it simply Madonna playing Evita Peron, sang “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” I was moved.
When Governor Sanford suggests a similar refrain, perhaps to be titled “Don’t Cry for Me South Carolina” I am unmoved.
It is true that the Governor’s sex life has little to do with his official duties.
However, when a Governor lies to the people, when he absents himself from his office, when he demonstrates such a capacity for betrayal, it seems to me a removal from office might be a proper reaction for the people of South Carolina.
Then the Governor would be unburdened by the demands of his office, could continue to ignore his wife and children, and return to Argentina for an extended “play date” with his mistress.
South Carolina could be happy.
Governor Sanford could be happy.
The mistress could be happy.
As for the First Lady of South Carolina, she would be well rid of him.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Farrah Fawcett's Gift
Notes of Concern….
….Jack Blair
Farah Fawcett’s Gift
Not long ago there was a television special titled “Farah’s Story”.
I decided to watch it although I must admit that I didn’t expect much.
What I received was so very much more than I expected.
I imagine the nine million people who watched this show left with similar feelings.
Many knew Farah Fawcett was ill with cancer. Some knew her prognosis was not encouraging. Few knew how she was dealing with the disease.
Those of us of a “certain age” remember when Farah came on the scene. She started doing commercials and quickly parlayed her beautiful blond hair and engaging smile into a super television career.
Farah’s first big splash was the television show “Charlie’s Angels.” She starred in this vehicle with Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson. The three formed a friendship that has stayed strong ever since.
After a brief marriage to Lee Majors, Farah’s companion was Ryan O’Neal. Mr. O’Neal came to our attention as the star of Love Story and Peyton Place. Ryan and Farah had one son, Redmond. A separation followed but fate and circumstance put them back together some years ago and they were devoted to one another.
Ms. Fawcett was born in 1947. The name she received is an Arabic word for “joy.” Over time she lost her mother. Her sister died of lung cancer. Her father is seen in Farah’s Story and clearly they have great affection for one another and have walked on eggshells since her diagnosis.
In 2006 Farah was diagnosed with anal cancer. As she contemplated the fight ahead, she determined to film it. She wanted people to know what cancer was really like. She enlisted the help of her friend, Alana Hamilton, to film her ordeal.
Such a decision seemed out of character for a television and movie star. Such people rarely want you to see them without their make-up let alone in the agony of terminal disease.
It is anyone’s guess what she planned to do with the film. She was optimistic at that time. She thought she would beat the disease. So she must have been thinking of how she could use the film for good in educating others.
She did travel to Germany for experimental treatments when ones available in the US didn’t seem to provide a cure. She did achieve a cancer free status along the way. Four months after this, as she went for her check-up, she continued her practice of having her encounters filmed.
Unfortunately for Farah, the diagnosis, a stage four metastasis, was not what she was expecting. The news was very difficult. It led to more treatments, more surgeries and more fallen hopes.
All of this was filmed. All of it was shared in the television shoe Farah’s Story. The filming was stark, honest and difficult. That said, it was an honest look at what fighting cancer is like for the patient, and for everyone in the patient’s circle of family and friends.
In cases like this, the patient does not live alone with cancer. Everyone who loves the patient, or works for the patient, or prays for the recovery lives the cancer, too. It insinuates itself into the lives of so many more people than just the patient.
The experience will not be fatal for the circle of family and friends, but it will affect them for the rest of their lives.
Ryan O’Neal’s role in Love Story is one where he is faced with the cancer of the young college student with whom he has fallen in love. There is a scene in that story where O’Neal crawls into the hospital bed of his lover and holds her close and tries to comfort her.
In Farah’s Story there is a similar scene. It was very surreal.
Clearly, O’Neal is shattered by the life the two of them have been living for three hard years as well as by the certainty that the story will not have a happy ending.
O’Neal and Farah’s friends comment in the film that Farah was “positive from day one. Didn’t waver. Was frightened a time or two, but said to them: ‘this is cancer, film it’”.
In addition to the film depicting how difficult each individual’s fight with cancer can be, during the process the National Enquirer printed news of her cancer before she had even been able to discuss it with her family.
An investigation, encouraged by Farah, showed that medical records were being released from her hospital; almost at the same time she was hearing the news from her doctor. This behavior by the UCLA Medical Center and The National Enquirer brought about legislation that keeps these kinds of records from being breached. In the investigation they found 935 instances where medical records had been breached in this manner.
The television special ends with Ms. Fawcett in bed, unable to talk, and awaiting her fate. She put up an incredible fight against a despicable disease and, in the end, she lost.
That said, there were some victories.
She brought down a system of medical information breaches that were serious and previously unpunished.
She showed the ugly side of cancer in its every day form.
She demonstrated a fighting spirit and an incredible will to live.
And in the final analysis, according to her friend Kate Jackson, the golden haired pinup girl, the TIME magazine “TV Superwoman” simply wanted this filming of her ugliest moments, from throwing up to loosing the famous blond hair, to be a gift to others to help and inspire them.
People die every day from cancer. It is the scourge of our time. Ms. Fawcett’s taped battle is the demonstration not of victory over disease but of the importance of choices.
As I watched the show, I kept wondering if she asked herself if the four years of agony was worth the decision to fight the cancer.
Were the few months, interspersed with horrific treatments and bad news, worth the pain and horror of many of her days?
Each person has to answer that question for him or herself.
Farah Fawcett died on June 25, 2009 at the age of 62.
….Jack Blair
Farah Fawcett’s Gift
Not long ago there was a television special titled “Farah’s Story”.
I decided to watch it although I must admit that I didn’t expect much.
What I received was so very much more than I expected.
I imagine the nine million people who watched this show left with similar feelings.
Many knew Farah Fawcett was ill with cancer. Some knew her prognosis was not encouraging. Few knew how she was dealing with the disease.
Those of us of a “certain age” remember when Farah came on the scene. She started doing commercials and quickly parlayed her beautiful blond hair and engaging smile into a super television career.
Farah’s first big splash was the television show “Charlie’s Angels.” She starred in this vehicle with Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson. The three formed a friendship that has stayed strong ever since.
After a brief marriage to Lee Majors, Farah’s companion was Ryan O’Neal. Mr. O’Neal came to our attention as the star of Love Story and Peyton Place. Ryan and Farah had one son, Redmond. A separation followed but fate and circumstance put them back together some years ago and they were devoted to one another.
Ms. Fawcett was born in 1947. The name she received is an Arabic word for “joy.” Over time she lost her mother. Her sister died of lung cancer. Her father is seen in Farah’s Story and clearly they have great affection for one another and have walked on eggshells since her diagnosis.
In 2006 Farah was diagnosed with anal cancer. As she contemplated the fight ahead, she determined to film it. She wanted people to know what cancer was really like. She enlisted the help of her friend, Alana Hamilton, to film her ordeal.
Such a decision seemed out of character for a television and movie star. Such people rarely want you to see them without their make-up let alone in the agony of terminal disease.
It is anyone’s guess what she planned to do with the film. She was optimistic at that time. She thought she would beat the disease. So she must have been thinking of how she could use the film for good in educating others.
She did travel to Germany for experimental treatments when ones available in the US didn’t seem to provide a cure. She did achieve a cancer free status along the way. Four months after this, as she went for her check-up, she continued her practice of having her encounters filmed.
Unfortunately for Farah, the diagnosis, a stage four metastasis, was not what she was expecting. The news was very difficult. It led to more treatments, more surgeries and more fallen hopes.
All of this was filmed. All of it was shared in the television shoe Farah’s Story. The filming was stark, honest and difficult. That said, it was an honest look at what fighting cancer is like for the patient, and for everyone in the patient’s circle of family and friends.
In cases like this, the patient does not live alone with cancer. Everyone who loves the patient, or works for the patient, or prays for the recovery lives the cancer, too. It insinuates itself into the lives of so many more people than just the patient.
The experience will not be fatal for the circle of family and friends, but it will affect them for the rest of their lives.
Ryan O’Neal’s role in Love Story is one where he is faced with the cancer of the young college student with whom he has fallen in love. There is a scene in that story where O’Neal crawls into the hospital bed of his lover and holds her close and tries to comfort her.
In Farah’s Story there is a similar scene. It was very surreal.
Clearly, O’Neal is shattered by the life the two of them have been living for three hard years as well as by the certainty that the story will not have a happy ending.
O’Neal and Farah’s friends comment in the film that Farah was “positive from day one. Didn’t waver. Was frightened a time or two, but said to them: ‘this is cancer, film it’”.
In addition to the film depicting how difficult each individual’s fight with cancer can be, during the process the National Enquirer printed news of her cancer before she had even been able to discuss it with her family.
An investigation, encouraged by Farah, showed that medical records were being released from her hospital; almost at the same time she was hearing the news from her doctor. This behavior by the UCLA Medical Center and The National Enquirer brought about legislation that keeps these kinds of records from being breached. In the investigation they found 935 instances where medical records had been breached in this manner.
The television special ends with Ms. Fawcett in bed, unable to talk, and awaiting her fate. She put up an incredible fight against a despicable disease and, in the end, she lost.
That said, there were some victories.
She brought down a system of medical information breaches that were serious and previously unpunished.
She showed the ugly side of cancer in its every day form.
She demonstrated a fighting spirit and an incredible will to live.
And in the final analysis, according to her friend Kate Jackson, the golden haired pinup girl, the TIME magazine “TV Superwoman” simply wanted this filming of her ugliest moments, from throwing up to loosing the famous blond hair, to be a gift to others to help and inspire them.
People die every day from cancer. It is the scourge of our time. Ms. Fawcett’s taped battle is the demonstration not of victory over disease but of the importance of choices.
As I watched the show, I kept wondering if she asked herself if the four years of agony was worth the decision to fight the cancer.
Were the few months, interspersed with horrific treatments and bad news, worth the pain and horror of many of her days?
Each person has to answer that question for him or herself.
Farah Fawcett died on June 25, 2009 at the age of 62.
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