Althouse: "It is amazing how brave you can be when you have no choice."

June 12, 2010

"It is amazing how brave you can be when you have no choice."

"Also, I am on a lot of drugs."

21 comments:

Anonymous said...: Gosh, I didn't even know he was ill!; 6/12/10, 11:08 AM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: Great, that was hilarious and amazing.

I loved the West quote. Yeah, my card hand stinks but c'mon boys, let's play.; 6/12/10, 11:12 AM
Palladian said...: Wait, this isn't the Roger Simon with the hat, right?; 6/12/10, 11:17 AM
Amexpat said...: If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...; 6/12/10, 11:17 AM
Unknown said...: From The Blonde's war stories, a lot of people chicken out until it's too late, so maybe he is that brave.

Palladian said...

Wait, this isn't the Roger Simon with the hat, right?

Don't believe so, he's been on Pajamasmedia all along. There's another with a dark beard and mustache - and he hasn't done anything in a while.; 6/12/10, 11:26 AM
traditionalguy said...: A great aphorism. Another one that Simon may experience is a growing empathy for hurt people. Going thru what happened to Simon teaches the value of mercy and compassion when you are the one who needs it. And that in turn makes one willingly offer it to others without a judgemental attitude. We shall see how that affects his political style.; 6/12/10, 11:40 AM
Phil 314 said...: Yeah, I read this yesterday. Impressive, particularly given his immediate first assignment was an interview of the President.

And IMHO he scored some pretty impressive quotes; 6/12/10, 11:46 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Wait, this isn't the Roger Simon with the hat, right?

No.; 6/12/10, 11:53 AM
Richard Dolan said...: "Brave" as in "put a brave face on." It's an aspect of courage which describes how one acts snd interacts, unlike fear which describes how one feels. They pull in different directions but often go together. Life becomes a question of which one wins out.

Wish him well. And spare me from the same fate.; 6/12/10, 12:01 PM
rhhardin said...: You lose the cooling effect of shorts.; 6/12/10, 12:32 PM
lemondog said...: He has a choice. He seems to have chosen humor over gloom or anger..... at least on the surface.

All the best to him.; 6/12/10, 12:33 PM
chickelit said...: A dear late aunt of mine lost both her feet and then her legs piece-by-piece from complications of diabetes. She lived in Wisconsin and used to joke about walking barefoot through snowdrifts in her prosthetics to get her morning newspaper.; 6/12/10, 1:24 PM
David said...: Whew! For a moment there I thought that was a quote from Abby Sunderland.; 6/12/10, 2:47 PM
Expat(ish) said...: Something like that happened to a co-worker. Scratched her leg on something at a flea market in LA, in an hour she was faint and dizzy. In four hours she was in the operating room and in six hours she was w/o her left leg.

The doc said that the rapid influx of illegals coming from all over the world and avoiding shots, healthcare other than the the ER, and smuggling of "live" foods was turning LA into Bombay.

I just report 'em.

-XC; 6/12/10, 4:02 PM
lemondog said...: Scratched her leg on something at a flea market in LA, in an hour she was faint and dizzy. In four hours she was in the operating room and in six hours she was w/o her left leg.

With Obamacare this will be a thing of the past.

Don't deny it, we are fortunate indeed to have this visionary president....; 6/12/10, 5:10 PM
knox said...: You lose the cooling effect of shorts.

Shorts have nothing on skirts--if you're going the pragmatic route.; 6/12/10, 6:31 PM
Christy said...: I've been a fan of this Roger Simon since he was a Baltimore Sun columnist. I was much struck by his noting that while developers were trying to build homes in the countryside, environmentalists already had their homes in the countryside. Hmmm. Guess you had to have been in Baltimore in the late 80s to appreciate it. And of course, his original phrasing was more clever.; 6/12/10, 7:07 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: I'll bet he could still kick Obama's ass!!; 6/12/10, 8:08 PM
ErnieG said...: I was so very sorry to hear this, but his spirit and courage shines through. The phrase "when you have no choice" caused me to think a bit.
It goes to the deepest part of character, of spirit. For some, like Roger Simon, that means not to give up, to prevail, no matter what. For others that means saying "the hell with it."; 6/12/10, 9:15 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: ErnieG said...

The phrase "when you have no choice" caused me to think a bit.

I think Simon means that literally, and also seriously. I survived colon cancer and extensive surgery, not because I was "brave", but because I put myself in the hands of a couple of brilliant doctors. I had no choice. Once I placed myself in their care, there were no more decisions to be made, hence no more anxiety. It wasn't courage, it was more like fatalism. I remember feeling like I was coasting. I worried about how it was affecting my loved ones, but as for myself I felt like a mildly interested observer of my own case.; 6/12/10, 9:50 PM
Penny said...: "It is amazing how brave you can be when you have no choice."

Mr. Simon does himself a disservice in not understanding the choice that he continues to make in his recurrent dream...

"I keep having the same dream: I am floating in a dark, frigid void. After what seems like an eternity, I see a faint light that grows steadily brighter. I make my way to it. Seated on a golden throne and surrounded by all manner of angels, there is a glowing figure that seems to radiate infinite serenity. He motions me forward. I advance. He bends down to whisper in my ear. “Win the morning,” he says. Then I wake up."

That might as easily been HEARD and then interpreted as, "Win the mourning".

Simon CHOOSES to be an optimist, and I feel certain we are all happy that he is.; 6/13/10, 1:21 AM