“And,” he concluded, “I had not had time to change my will, and I was not going to die and leave all my money to them!”
The power of reasons to live. The older cop shook his head as he told me that line. “I’ve never been angry enough about anything to survive what that guy did,” he said.
“No way he should have been able to live that long,” said the younger one. “You could say it’s a miracle. But I wonder, if he wanted to live so bad, why did he crash in the first place?”
Interesting question. What do you think?
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Personal notes: I’m just completing my five-week class “Self-care and Social Change,” given through the Free University of San Francisco. We had it at Casa Sanchez restaurant in the Mission District. I think it went pretty well; we worked some with reasons to live.
Not sure when the next one will be. You can see where I’ll be teaching or speaking by clicking here.
Check out my recent articles on Diabetes Self-Management.com. I’ve got one up there today on healthy living spaces. Last week’s was about the dangers of bariatric surgery, and the week before was about pets. They’re all good.
Great story! I laughed my tuchus off! I’ve heard of this before — being angry enough to take care of yourself, but not written out so nicely.
“Do not go gentle into that dark night….”, there’s something to be said for that. Am reminded of stories and anecdotes I’ve come across through the years about people who’s work or accomplishments I admire. Many of these idols are exposed as being somewhere on the spectrum between “difficult” and “Pit Bull”. Consequently, I no longer expect saintliness or Job-like humility from my role models (although it WOULD be nice), but rather have concluded that, given the effects of Murphy’s Law, The Peter Principal, and plain entropy, it may take a Pit Bull to accomplish anything. Or, in some cases, just survive. Life is unfair and death is inevitable – best to meet both head-on.
If revenge is the reason to survive, then be vengeful! Some thing redeeming, like this blog, will come along.
My mean old grandfather died at 99 years old. Outlived all my other grandparents. His motivation? The smartest one lives longest. He lived to prove he was smarter than everyone else. Didn’t make for great relationships, but he certainly got a lot of mileage out of it. At 92 he eloped to Vegas with his home care worker. She gave him seven more years. Smart.
A lie has no legs.