Thursday evening the PET MO-Columbia board hosted a wonderful party celebrating all our PET volunteers, including in absentia, Earl, Leona and Rodney Miner, who did basic design for the PET. I gave a talk which our daughter called my "State of the Union address", and want to share in brief outline from that talk: The World Is Getting Better Every Day and PET is Helping to Make it So! World View: The world IS getting better every day and in so many, many ways. We have made amazing progress in my 89 years of residency. Polio and the Guinea Worm are the same as gone. Three African countries are about to be certified malaria free. ... *** We have an AWARENESS we have never had before. We can no longer say that we did not know... *** We have the logistics to respond... *** We have the resources in our wealthy country... *** We have the know-how... *** ALL WE LACK IS THE WILL! IF IT IS TO BE IT IS UP TO US! ******************************************************* Now, to you PET volunteers: (1) You have chosen well to volunteer for PET. It meets the needs of the most needy - those who struggle through a life that is degrading, miserable, humiliating, dehumanizing and poverty-stricken. (2) You make an immediate difference in the lives of recipients. One moment they are crawling upon the ground, often as beggars. They get on a PET and that day life is changed. (3) You have job security. 21,000,000 persons (WHO) await the gift of mobility. (4) Your life skills are not wasted. You will NOT go to your grave with your music still half in you. (5) You are building a legacy. Your children and grandchildren will know of your values. They need to inherit your values more than your valuables. ********************************************* "Hope is like a road in the country; there never was a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence." Lin Yutang Mel West, PET co-founder (full post at PET MO-Columbia State of PET Address 5/13/13)
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