YOUR VIEWS

Resources available to help with chronic pain

According to the U.S. Pain Foundation, 50 million, or 20%, of American adults live with chronic pain, which is pain that persists most days or every day for longer than six months. Twenty million, or 8%, of American adults live with high-impact chronic pain, which frequently limits life or work activities. Chronic pain is the leading cause of long-term disability in the Unites States.

I have lived with chronic pain and fatigue since my late 20s. For more than 15 years, I have been learning through trial and error, advocating for myself and persevering one day at a time. Three years ago, I had to resign from my career at the public library and am now fully disabled.

There are many treatments but no cure for chronic pain. This long journey will most likely last a lifetime. The public library has outstanding resources about chronic illness and pain. Visit www. pioneerlibrarysystem.org or www.metrolibrary.org to apply for a library card and/or search the catalog. In addition, Oklahoma Healthy Aging Initiative (https://ouhsc.edu/ohai) offers free classes. Other valuable resources are available through the American Chronic Pain Association (www.theacpa.org) and the U.S. Pain Foundation (www. uspainfoundation.org).

Penni Pace Mix, Norman

Mix is a U.S. Pain Foundation Ambassador for Oklahoma. September is Pain Awareness Month.

Not an apples-to-apples comparison

I feel compelled to respond to the letter by Harold Patterson (Your Views, Aug. 26) as an adopted Oklahoman originally from Connecticut and as a student of published scientific data. He suggests that Oklahoma's higher COVID19 cases are due to our lack of a mandatory statewide mask mandate. While both states have approximately the same-sized population, the similarities end there. Connecticut has no large cities like Oklahoma City and Tulsa. The largest city is Bridgeport with fewer than 150,000 people. Most towns are under 10,000. This allows greater opportunity to social distance.

From the standpoint of comorbidities, consider that Connecticut has a smoking rate of 12.7% and an obesity rate of 27.4% compared with Oklahoma's 20.1% and 34.8%, respectively. The death rate due to heart disease in Connecticut is only 142.1 per 100,000 while Oklahoma is the nation's highest at 228.5 per 100,000 according to CDC stats. These factors likely far overshadow any policy of the governor or legislature. Joseph C. Brevetti, Edmond

One-sided conversation is not constructive

There can't be change concerning use of force by police and racial injustice as long as the conversation remains one sided. I thank the 700,000 officers who make 10 million arrests each year, mostly without incident and equitably. Sworn to enforce the law, they have the duty and authority to make lawful arrests and use force when necessary. Eliminating that would result in anarchy. There is misconduct by a few, but only fools would blame all officers for it. Our legal system must deal with that and deliver consequences.

The only conversation I'm hearing is for the police to change. Better training and policies are appropriate, but there must be more to the conversation. People in society can't commit crimes or resist lawful arrest with impunity. If we do, we can't question an officer using necessary force. The conversation must include making people understand they don't have a right to commit crimes or to resist a lawful arrest. The riotous mob actions seem to imply the opposite. I hope we can achieve better racial equality, but I'm not too optimistic as long as the conversation remains one sided. Blaming the police for society's racial injustice just isn't the truth.

Jim Gallegly, Edmond

You really can't make this stuff up

Just as I was getting ready to follow up on state Rep. Emily Virgin's diatribe (Point of View, Aug. 30) accusing Gov. Stitt and Republicans of every sin known to man came U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff's accusations that the riots in Portland and Chicago and Seattle were actually President Trump's fault! I would go so far as to say “You can't make this stuff up,” but that would be redundant.

Bill Logan, Norman

`Harper's rule' provides a worthwhile message

A few weeks ago, I was helping 7-year-old girl find missing pieces from her Lego set. After a while, I said I didn't think they were there. “Never give up!” she said. It's a great philosophy. We kept looking and finally I said, “I don't think they're here, Harper.” “Never give up!” she said. It reminded me of the shortest graduation speech on record when Winston Churchill went to the lectern, said basically the same thing and sat down.

I have read many testimonials from people of all colors who were born into terrible circumstances, tried to better themselves, failed, tried again, failed again and tried again. By the simple act of never giving up, they eventually took advantage of America's wonderful opportunities and made a great life for themselves and their families. The average rioter has lived his life being given terrible advice: You can't succeed, it's stacked against you, give up. A Brookings Institute study revealed that if a young person will do only three things, there is a 98% possibility that he or she will never be poor: graduate from high school, get a full-time job and get married before you have children.

To those for whom it is too late to abide by the “marriage before children” rule, I would say, “You can make up for that problem by following Harper's rule.” By the way, she found the pieces.

Mike Jones, Oklahoma City