ACA and Ossur

[Wayne Renardson]

One fine day George Boyer glorked:

GB> Come now, Wayne.  

Oh George....you know what an annoying, old whining crank I am. 
Possibly if this were not the same tired song and dance...different 
verse maybe--- then maybe I would get my butt more into life. But it 
becomes more than mildly annoying to discover the head of ACA is 
shilling not for amputees, or prosthetists (I think we are linked 
like flies on a turd) but for a maker of  product. Our gear. 
Hardware. They do not fit us, they make product. It takes someone --- 
a prosthetist--- to make the stuff work and allow comfort. The stuff 
we use to make life a bit sweeter. In the case of leg amputees, often 
the ability to navigate point A to B with a degree of ease and even 
grace. Not that you cannot be graceful in, say, a wheelchair.  

Caught a women who was probably in her eighties in local grocery 
store last week. She was being wheeled around by another lady. You 
could look at this 80+ woman and tell she had more grace and bearing 
in her little finger than most of us will ever have. She reeked of 
dignity. Uhhh did I mention she also --well, you could smell the 
money.  Follow the money trail. 

Now I've not seen the brochure from Ossur. Know nothing about their 
product. I understand they do some good things. Fine. That's not the 
issue. The issue is, in short, why should the chair of ACA be in the 
employ of a company that makes devices? How does that advance issues 
that might be of interest to people? I'll get off my rhetorical high 
horse, George. Hell, the dude's gotta make a living just like most 
people. It would be impertinent to inquire of ACA how much he earns 
or, if gratis, how much Ossur is doling out to him. 

Back to Joan Baez...."Diamonds and Rust" that she wrote 300 yeas ago 
about Dylan....a gorgeous tune about love lost, a lamentation about 
what was and what could have been. 


Wayne Renardson