I am very sorry for the update I sent you yesterday. I took a print out in the Priest office and my God it was terrrrrrrible!!!! It was full of mistakes. I wrote it very quickly at the Library and send it along. I promise! It won't happen again! My Priest picked me up this morning for Church and I'm once again in a good mood! This past week was a very bad one and I'm certain that Provincial Monisters Volpe and Green found that out the hard way! My God! I am very stern and direct but the Priest message of the day made me feel much better! Here's the letter that I just sent to the Daily Gleaner! Do you believe they will print it? Don't forget to visit my blog site at
http://oldmaison.blogspot.com/
To the editor,
I wish to congratulate Kyle O'Donnell for his excellent letter printed on February 3th, 2005 - Bullying at school led to suicide attempts. In the 70s, I was also bullyed and thank God that I had the size to fight back. I had ADHD but in those days no one knew about this energetic condition. In 1998, I found out I had ADHD. and I was very happy. It explained a lot of my actions but I would soon find out that society had a different outlook of ADD/ADHD! After publishing a letter in the paper, I received many phone calls from parents crying on the phone of the manner their kids were being treated in the school system. On June 17th, 2003, I began my six months protest in front of the Legislature. I collected 10,000 signatures asking the Government to study the issue of ADHD and Ritalin but to no avail. During my protest, I heard two teenagers who committed suicide after taking Ritalin. Why did they take their life away? It’s not the pills fault. It’s the labelling that goes with ADD/ADHD! It’s suppose to be a benefit having ADHD and not a disadvantage. I would hear sad tales from these very highly intelligent individuals that the kids in school would call them idiots or stupid. Their self esteem really takes a blow on their lives. We all know that kids can be cruel. I'll never forget the time a young child of 10 years old told his Father beside my tent- I know all about ADHD Dad! I said- Ahhh the childrens they know. He looked at his Father in a very serious face and said - THEY'RE ALL STUPID! I quickly replied - You see? That's one of the reason that I'm here for. Where did a young child learn that ADD/ADHD kids are stupid? I would love to confront the first person who called these highly intelligent kids Stupid. These ADD/ADHD kids are the target of many and nasty jokes. In the end, many of these kids will turn to heavy drugs or alcohol to escape their energetic mind! Why me they asked themselves??? What’s wrong with me???? Am I truly stupid because I have ADHD? It’s far from the truth. Any issues these kids will be involved in, they have the extra energy to go that extra mile to accomplish their goal in life. But unfortunately society will try to put a stop on these highly intelligent kids by labelling them for life. I know because I’m still battling some bureaucrats with this issue and will continue to do so till the day I die. They wish to bring in more teacher’s assistants but this is not the answer for these kids because the rest of the classroom notice little Jimmy having problems with his home work so therefore they begin to tease the poor child. Individuals with ADD/ADHD are very well known for their bad tempers. After a good old fashion fist fight, my whole body would be relaxed. All that hypertension is gone for a few long minutes. It felt so good but unfortunately, this can put some individual in very deep trouble with the law and in the end, they become the social outcast of society. We walk a very thin line between social outcasts or the socially accepted. May I suggest to Kyle O'Donnell that he takes Martial arts? What a great way to be able to defend yourself and be in control of your temper and mind. As long as the Lord Government is in power, the memo will be that it’s cheaper to drug our kids than to treat them with dignity! How many more lives must be taken away before the Government acts on this very emotional issue? Anyone out there who wishes to help me with this issue? You can send me an email at oldmaison@yahoo.com. Keep your chin up Kyle and don’t let society stop you in your dreams! Good work kid!
Charles LeBlanc114 Brunswick StreetFrederictonNew BrunswickE3B 1G6
