Just listened to David Lange's interview with John Cambell, which you can get through R Brown's Hard News blog. At the end, John asks him about writing the book, and how David Lange feels about David Lange. He replies talking about having a wife he loves and who loves him, a wonderful daughter and a good life. Its a wonderful thing to be able to look at a life, spent in and out of hospitals, with full mobility taxi's and wheelchairs, chemotherapy and all that, and to say that he has a full and happy life because he is looking at the things that make him happy, and i guess treating the other stuff as things that have to be done so he can do the things that make him happy.
There's a woman at school who focusses on the things that make her unhappy. It doesn't seem to be cheering her up, having the daily whine.
I sang in the school idol competition today with a fellow teacher, and we were utterly abysmal. Exactly the effect we expected!! It was really funny and we had a good time.
Carpe diem.
Posted by Toni at August 10, 2005 08:18 PMI totally agree. Some of the happiest people I know are also the ones who have faced great adversity and therefore find the roses extra sweet.
Posted by: phreq at August 11, 2005 09:05 AMA marketing friend of mine once told me the following formula:
customer satisfaction = performance (or outcome) - expectations
It works for everything. The trick is to manage your expectations: if you expect life to be easy, chances are you'll be disappointed, y'know?
Posted by: iona at August 11, 2005 12:27 PMAs someone who probably (definitely!) spends too much time counting my woes, I do agree - misery breeds misery.
But also, I think it's important not to expect *every* person faced with adversity to be a hero. Some of us just aren't. Some cancer sufferers are depressed, scared and quite unpleasant to be around at times. Many amputees kill themselves. A major trauma can be almost impossible to deal with.
I love to hear the exceptions, I think Mr. Lange was a great man, and I really admire the people who are heroic under great turmoil and pain. I guess I just think, a lot of us aren't heroes, and don't feel too bad about it.