Tuesday, January 24, 2012

A few thoughts - or maybe just justifications for bad behavior

I've been feeling badly that I haven't updated this recently. I have been challenged this year by depression and health issues. I'm about 1 year away from being eligible to retire from my current job with a local government agency. Although nobody else has a job, my workload gets bigger and bigger, the agency pushes us harder and harder and, face it, I'm not getting younger so I don't have as much energy to use to get through the day. When I got to this stage of Tad's story I pictured myself going thru all the material and presenting conclusive arguments proving my opinion that Tad's experiences and the publicity in the newspapers at that time were germinal to the American's With Disabilities Act. My grandfather made the State of South Dakota pay for Tad's education by appearing before the legislators and proving Tad was capable of learning; therefore, according to the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, the State had to provide him with an education. I have books with my grandfather's notes in the margins that date from that time. My grandfather was the son of a newspaper publisher and knew that the way to keep the funding was to publicize my uncle's accomplishments as a result of that education so there are many newspaper articles that I plan to scan and publish. Some of these have had the name of the newspaper &/or the date cut off, so I have not been able to use them as citations for Wikipedia so that I can correct the Wikipedia entry about Tadoma, but I still hope to properly attribute them at some point.
My head started saying, "Who are you to do this? No one will pay any mind. What does it matter?" I have given considerable thought to how to pick myself up and begin to write again. I have decided the best way forward is to return to my original plan - let the material speak for itself. I will scan &/or transcribe and then post what I have. Those that are interested can read what they wish and I'll leave any conclusions or results up to the strength of the material and to God. Give me time - retirement is coming and my depression is lifting.