Dignity

Our always full of latest news (and gossip) Opera Chic has an update on the battle over the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti's assets (or lack thereof) in which Nicoletta Mantovani (P's second wife) does some damage control.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Pavarotti affair a short recap: Pavarotti died early September leaving his lawyers to sort out the mess with different wills. (For a long version of this dreadful story see here.) Last week the officials in Pesaro (Italy) could open an investigation into the filing of Pavarotti's last will, which contradicts his previously filed will, leaving most of his fortune to his second wife Nicoletta.
The reason behind such an astonishing situation? A massive overdraft (around 10 million dollars) has been found in Pavarotti's bank accounts for reasons that remain unclear.
This is all a terrible mess and I'm leaving everyone to their own conclusion. Nicoletta Mantovani's damage control is an article in the Italian newsweekly "Chi" which reports that she has been diagnosed in 2005 with MS and is in care at Multiple Sclerosis Research Center in NYC. What drove me up the wall were the words of "Chi"'s article '...There she attended a center that specializes in Multiple Sclerosis, an illness that she has combated for two years, in silence and with dignity...' What does this mean?
Does it mean that people who talk about their illness do not fight them with dignity? Do you measure how much dignity people have by how much they say about their illness? In other words one has to be ill and mute to have dignity - and what about people who aren't ill? How do you measure theirs?
Strange world! I know I feel rather strongly about this, so please don't be put off! I just happen to live with illness and sometimes it takes me all my courage to admit to it.
People who impressed me most were the ones who could actually talk about their illness as a fact, something you have to go through and you might as well take it graciously. A bit like you frog a knitting project when you're not happy with the result. You swear loudly and probably for some time one shouldn't talk to you, but after that you proceed with knitting.