Man naturally loves life. So if a person knew that he had a terminal illness with only a few months to live — what would be his attitude? Would he draft his will and plan his funeral or would he leave behind a book in which he would write his ideas, justify the errors he had made and clarify his stands?
The late French President Francois Mitterrand knew that he had prostate cancer and that he would soon leave the world stage. However, he didn’t plan his funeral — but those of his wife and his mistress by whom he had an illegitimate child. It seems that the president didn’t want to leave the world without trying to improve his image in the eyes of history.
Two books by the French president were recently published in Paris; in them he denounced his political enemies and glorified the role he played in both French and world history over the past 50 years. He didn’t miss the opportunity to justify every mistake he made during his presidency.
In the chapter concerning France’s relationship with Germany, he reminds us that he was very enthusiastic about unity between Eastern and Western Europe. In that chapter his skill and eloquence in seeking to clear his name are impressive, but none of it is convincing.
In another chapter he almost begs the reader to acknowledge that he played an important role in organizing the resistance against Germans in France so as to rid himself of the negative light in which Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s important speech put him — the speech in which he called on France to resist the Nazi invasion in 1941. He said that he felt the need to wake France up and prepare it to resist on the internal front. Mitterrand denies that he ever condemned de Gaulle or compared him to Hitler or Mussolini.
It seems that Mitterrand could not abide the idea that after his death he might not be remembered as a national hero and so his books reveal his pathetic efforts to defend himself, justify his mistakes and glorify the role he played in France’s interest. Some people don’t like the fact that death is the end and that their image will remain unchanged after they die.
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Short women in Europe and America are watching with interest events at a hospital in Canton, China. The hospital is realizing the dream of many by adding a few centimeters to their bodies by means of a dangerous operation. Chinese surgeon Leo Pen who performs this operation confirms that the surgery has a high success rate not only in increasing the height of girls but also in removing much of their complex concerning their height.
The surgical operation costs more than $2,200 and is attracting more and more women, all willing to go under the knife. The procedure is carried out in three stages. In the first stage, the surgeon saws the leg bone in half. He then places a pin in the space and fastens it into the bone’s socket. Through the pin, which takes on the role of the bone, a steel cage is built outside the leg. Six months later the steel cage is removed and after a year in the third stage of the operation, the pins are removed after making sure that the bone has been reconstituted.
Arab News Features 23 May 2003