In the past three weeks, I have suffered a dramatic and significant decline in my mobility, for reasons that my doctors have not yet figured out. My ability to get around with a three wheeled roller is almost nil, I have fallen four or five times at home although fortunately have not hurt myself seriously, and even getting to and from my car is almost impossible for me. However, I have just discovered that my retirement community has just purchased a bus that is wheelchair accessible. Today, when I went to see my doctor, I got on my three wheeled electric scooter, which I use everywhere in my home, went down via elevator and out to meet the bus, got on the bus, got off the bus, made my way to my doctor’s office, saw him, came back home, and never once had to get off my scooter until I was safe at home. That may not seem like much to you youngsters in your 60s and 70s but believe me, to a 90-year-old with Parkinson’s disease it is miraculous
Here's to you and perseverance, Professor. I share in the joy you must feel. I may be just a child at 52, but old age, sickness and death are not invisible to me. Here's hoping our social systems can still take care of those with mobility challenges a few decades from now.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the autobiographical anecdotes, Dr. Wolff. Reading them is very enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I tell my family members that planet Earth sucks, and that I wish I was born on a world with Star Trek-like advanced medical technology, I also realize that I should be more thankful that I'm not living in Ukraine or a place like Gaza or Sudan.
Maybe that's the main lesson of life? Things could always be worse so be thankful for one's blessings when you can.
In other news, it seems that Chomsky suffered a stroke last June and has been very poorly ever since, unable to communicate or move. Sad times.
ReplyDeleteI congratulate the professor on his re-mobilization; I imagine that one fun thing about roaring around on an electric scooter would be running thugs off the sidewalks.--As part of reading Charles Taylor's new book on poetry, I've also been reading through the works of the German sociologist Hartmut Rosa; he and Taylor have drawn extensively from each other's works, and Taylor has adopted Rosa's conception of 'resonance' as part of his basic conceptual tool-kit. One of Rosa's central claims strikes me as highly relevant to many posts and discussions here on the recent prominence of quasi-fascistic (?) identitarian/nationalist political sensibilities. I'd thought that to some extent the surge of such views could be largely explained as the result of 30-40 years of neoliberalism. But Rosa's views suggest something deeper, something rather more rooted in basic features of modernity. Here's Rosa summarizing his views in his recent The Uncontrollability of the World (pp.9-11): "A modern society, as I define it, is one that can stabilize itself only dynamically, in other words one that requires constant economic growth, technological acceleration, and cultural innovation in order to maintain its institutional status quo. in terms of cultural perception, this escalatory perspective has gradually turned from a promise into a threat. . . At both the individual and the collective level, what generates this will to escalation is not the promise of improvement in our quality of life, but the unbridled threat that we will lose what we have already attained. . . This game of escalation is perpetuated not by a lust for more, but by the fear of having less and less. It is never enough not because we are insatiable, but because we are, always and everywhere, moving down the escalator. . . [However], [n]o social formation can persist for. very long (particularly not as robustly and resiliently as capitalist modernity has) if it is based only on fear. Hence there must be a second--positive, attractive--force at play, one that we can identify as the promise of expanding our share of the world. . . the categorical imperative of late modernity--Always act in such a way that your share of the world is increased--has become the dominant principle behind our decision-making in all areas of life".--One might think that the fear is a major part of the force driving identitarian nationalism, but the second positive force suggests why it manifests in such a pitiless and triumphalist tone.
ReplyDeleteThere is an article in today’s New York Times about Parkinson’s that Professor Wolff and others who read this site may be interested in:
ReplyDelete“The Woman Who Could Smell Parkinson’s
“She first noticed the scent on her husband. Now her abilities are helping unlock new research in early disease detection.”
Just tuned in; sorry to hear about the advancing immobility but delighted to hear about the scooter. All systems go, I presume, for The Class.
ReplyDeleteDr. Wolff: I am so sorry to hear this news, but equally glad to hear the scooter is working for you.
ReplyDeleteFritz Poebel: In late 2004 my mother was in a continuing care facility. I received a call from the director saying that my mother had cancer and ws not expected to survive for long. I flew from VT to MN. the next day. When i spoke to the head nurse she said another nurse had to ability to smell cancer. I have also read that dogs can be trained to do the same.
The saying “Don’t knock technology until you have tried it” reminds us to keep an open mind. After all, trying out new technologies taking ourselves online class help is the most effective way of understanding its merits and weaknesses, which enables us to evaluate them critically and become receptive to breakthroughs aimed at improving our day-to-day existence.
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