This latest gap in posts was a little longer than planned. The holiday weeks were filled with several crises, all of which turned out OK, but took away time, attention and energy.
I did a little housecleaning here. I deleted some comments waiting in the queue – they were both tiresome extensions of exchanges that were already pretty pointless.
There’s a lot happening and I’ll be playing “catch-up” over the next days and weeks. Right now, I figured I’d share something that seems very appropriate as a kick-off for the New Year.
(Note: yes, I do know about the court decision in Montana and I’ll be writing about it soon.)
Yesterday, NPR’s Morning Edition featured a commentary by friend and ally Ben Mattlin. You can read or listen to the commentary by going to To One Of the Lucky Ones, The New Year Means More.
Excerpt:
I’ve used a wheelchair my whole life. I no longer have the strength to hold a pencil. Am I still one of the lucky ones?
I believe I am. So, why do so many people feel sorry for me?
They don’t know me, of course. They don’t know that I grew up in a great family, graduated from Harvard, get my writing published, got married and fathered two terrific little girls. There are a lot of reasons why I consider myself lucky.
Still, people have said to me, “If I were like you, I’d kill myself.”
This is supposed to be a compliment, I think. They mean to commend my perseverance. So how come I want to say back, “If I were like you, I’d want to kill myself, too!”
Ben has posted the longer original version of his commentary on his blog, titled Adventures in Modern Life. Check it out. –Stephen Drake