It's a New Year - A Little Housecleaning and a Word from Ben Mattlin

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