A warm hello from Inspiration from a Blind, brought to you every month by ShirleyCheng.com
I'm afraid this issue will not be as light-hearted as previous issues, for my soul mourns with the victims affected by the conflict between Israel and Lebanon. As of July 22, over 700,000 Lebanese have been displaced by the conflict. I can't even start to imagine the horror. Wars have always puzzled me. Why all the hatred? Can't humans live in harmony like all the other God-created creatures? Why do we often have to make one another's lives miserable? What happiness could it possibly bring us? Just because we are "smart" enough to make weapons doesn't mean we should use our "intelligence" to harm.
Another issue that is so frustrating is parental rights in children's medical care... (The following is what I posted on my blog on July 22.) Yes, as I had expected, 16-year-old Abraham Cherrix has lost his fight to follow his desired treatment for his Hodgkin's disease. The judge ordered him to receive the chemotherapy that had made him terribly ill. And his parents are forced to give their legal written consent. I find that insanely ridiculous. How can you force someone to give their consent? No one should force anyone to do anything they do not want to do. Patients should have the right to do what they want for their own bodies. These rights are God-given rights, but humans have snatched these rights away from them. God gives us free will to do what we want, and the medical system has abused this free will to snatch other people's rights from them. I wonder when will justice ever enter the American medical system.
Doctors can urge that their treatments are the "best" and urge patients to follow their treatments. They can get on their knees and beg, but they cannot pick up that telephone and dial Child Protective Services and have the child torn from its primary source of love and security—its parents.
Ever since becoming an advocate of parental rights in children's medical care, I've been following this kind of cases closely. Last year, this misfortune happened to the Werneckes in Texas. These laws must be reformed, but how will they ever be reformed when the American government won't admit they're wrong?
Why am I speaking out about these issues? I, myself, was the victim—not only once but twice— of this injustice. My dear mother Juliet Cheng lost custody of me twice only after disagreeing with doctors' recommended treatments—treatments that would have sent me to my grave. The last case in 1990 made international headlines; she was on CBS This Morning with Paula Zahn. Fortunately, she won me back both times...she's my savior!
Where is our freedom to say no?
And this is what I posted on July 25:
Hurray! The judge from Accomack County Circuit Court lifted the orders of a juvenile court judge, so Starchild Abraham Cherrix does not have to report to the appointed hospital, Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk, today to receive the unwanted chemotherapy. The judge also ended joint custody of Abraham between his parents and social services officials. I applaud this judge, Judge Glen A. Taylor, for his compassion and common sense!
Anyway, on a lighter note, below are the wonderful reviews I've recently received...
Review by Lynn Colwell, a life and personal coach. She works with clients all over the world by phone. Contact her for a complimentary half hour coaching call or subscribe to her acclaimed newsletter via her website,
www.bloomngrow.net
As a life and personal coach, I encourage my clients to read about people who face challenges and tragedies and manage not only to survive, but to thrive. Shirley Cheng's biography, The Revelation of a Star's Endless Shine, is such a book.
Shirley's life could have turned out very differently had she and her mother been cowed by the appalling behavior of doctors, teachers, landlords, social services employee, lawyers and even friends. Instead, their courage and willingness to confront rather than accept ill treatment, led Shirley, a blind, disabled woman, to create a life filled with meaning and singularly lacking in self-pity or bitterness.
Reading of Shirley's physical pain, her increasingly weakening body, the slipshod way she was handled by school aids who were supposed to be helping her, the legal wranglings over her care, would make anyone scream in frustration. Even worse was the way Shirley was treated by an endless list of so-called professionals. Hardly anyone listened to Shirley or her mother regarding her pain, her intelligence or her thirst for education. The indictment of so many people who should have been on Shirley's side, is a sad commentary on our medical, social service and educational systems. In addition, Shirley's father evidently was a manipulator and a cruel man who refused to use his money for the benefit of his daughter. The hardships she and her mother faced feel unendurable. Yet they were endured. And despite poor medical care, despite teachers who seemed uninterested in helping this talented student, despite unfeeling "friends," in two countries, they endured.
Unlike Shirley, few of us seem to have the innate ability to face every day and everyone with a smile regardless of our own painful circumstances. Yet we can read her story with an open heart and choose to integrate her positive outlook and determination into our own lives in a way that will serve us and those around us. After all, this is the reason Shirley wrote the book. She hoped that her story would inspire others to treat everyone with respect, to stand up for what we believe in and to reach out to those less fortunate.
And this is what Lynn wrote in her newsletter:
Shirley Cheng is disabled, blind and unstoppable
Afflicted with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, Shirley Cheng has been in severe pain most of her life. As if this were not enough, the way she and her mother have been treated by a series of "professionals," from lawyers, to doctors, to teachers, to landlords, teacher aides and even Shirley's father, is nothing short of criminal. The lack of respect, arrogance and the inability to listen to and have compassion for Shirley would be enough to turn Little Mary Sunshine into Scrooge.
The miracle of Shirley's life is that her attitude, from the time she was a very young child, remained hopeful and positive. Regardless of how she was treated, she refused to be cowed. She stood up for her own best interests as did her mother, whose perseverance and willingness to fight for her daughter is awe-inspiring.
Shirley was told "No," in countless ways. She powered through every obstacle and today is a well-published author. One of her stories is featured in a new book by Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup for the whatever-you-can- name fame.
More importantly, Shirley's goal in life is to inspire others. Visit her website, www.ShirleyCheng.com to learn more about her vision, her passion, her writings and her life.
Review by Dorothy Lafrinere from WomensSelfEsteem.com
"Dance with Your Heart", invites you into Shirley Cheng's journey of thoughts and words. She will take you through colors, feelings, visions, senses and lessons in life. You will share some of the author's thoughts through her stories of frogs, cats, stars, goddess's, fish and turtles. You will be enlightened by her poems of never discovered lands, clouds, flickers of hope, passing storms, memories, wishes, colors of rainbows and more.
Reading," Dance with Your Heart", will do more than fill your heart with dances. It will reach deep inside of you and awaken your most inner passion while also renewing your respect and love for nature's life.
The stories in this book are kept short and written with impeccable talent and imagination. The poems are light hearted, refreshingly lyrical and a true enjoyment to read. "Dance with Your Heart", reminds its readers of the simplest lessons in life, such as believing in oneself, ones inner beauty and also self-worth.
Womensselfesteem.com highly recommends, "Dance with Your Heart" to every type of reader. It is a true gem to read, one to be very much appreciated.
Thank You Shirley Cheng for sharing a bit of your wonderful mind with us!
Review by Sylvie Deckers from Euro-Reviews
Dance with Your Heart: Tales and Poems That the Heart Tells really is a book that you can call one of a kind. The stories are quick reads, beautifully written using colorful language and on top of that; are filled with wisdom. Each story and poem has a lesson to tell and it's amazing how inspirational they are.
Shirley Cheng is very creative in her mythical stories and although I'm normally not so into this mythical genre; there where plenty of stories that I loved reading. One of my favorites is without a doubt the story of "The Self-Seeking Man", which is about a rich old man who is afraid to lose his gold. He seems to identify the gold with himself... Or another good story "The Greedy Cat"; what seems to be an innocent story about a cat that goes hunting, contains an important message at the end.
And then there are the poems... For the romantic soul that I am, I really looked forward to reading them. They enrich you; you start thinking about the wonders that life brings us. Things we mostly take for granted. The poem that touched me the most is "A humble gift"; it's a poem about love and most importantly, giving love. "Flickers of Hope" is another well written poem that teaches us the lesson of not giving up hope because hope is what humans live for...
Shirley Cheng is good for being such a young author She has proven her talent with Dance with Your Heart: Tales and Poems That the Heart Tells. She teaches us some valuable lessons with her mythical stories and her poetry. Like I said before, this is a book that is a quick read, but also an easy read. Possibly for all ages, although I think that the adults can learn the most out of it!
Remember, all of my books are available for ordering from my site http://www.shirleycheng.com
If you have a friend with a birthday or an anniversary coming up, do let me know and I'll include a special greeting with my autograph!
Also, I'd like to share a link I came across: http://www.squidoo.com
You can create one-page lenses about topics you feel strongly about, share your blog entries, add your Amazon books or other Amazon books/products you want to share with others, or just tell the world about yourself. You can add Googlemaps, a guestbook, and so, so much more. It is free to join. I created two pages:
http://www.squidoo.com/shirleycheng http://www.squidoo.com/authorshirley
It isn't too easy for me to create those pages because my screen reader doesn't work too well with the website, but I got around the difficulty for most part.
Have fun creating your pages, and if you like, send me your page to share it with my newsletter subscribers!
That's all for today...
I part with some advice: please do put your intelligence into good use. Life isn't about IQ scores and GPAs. Life is all about loving one another and living in harmony. The smartest person is one who is true to oneself and others around them.
