General Interest

I mentioned in Tuesday’s post that I’d be sharing a number of thoughts garnered last week’s funeral for Gil Johnson, the father of my dear friend Nancy.  The title of this post is one of them, apparently a favorite Gil aphorism.

This is a helpful, useful statement because it’s the answer to the questions, “How did I get myself into this?” “How could this have happened to me?”  “Why me?”  So it’s a lens onto the past as you look back on the direction your life has taken.  And it’s a telescope into the future.  Where do I want to be by the end of today?  This week?  The summer?  I will end up where my decisions take me.

I attended the funeral of a dear friend’s father on Saturday.  He was a truly remarkable man, and I don’t say that lightly.  There were so many life lessons and blessings in that service that I have 2 1/2 pages of scribbled notes I plan to turn into blog posts, as the material is just too good to keep to myself.  How the family pulled this service together in the midst of their grief is a testimony to them, their unity, and their faith.  While I found myself tearing up periodically as warm memories were shared, the service as a whole was happy​.  Does that sound nonsensical? Well, stay tuned.

I wrote about Charles Duhigg’s new book back in March, saying that one of my big disappointments with it was the unfulfilled expectation that he would explain the productivity secrets of Atul Gawande, a surgeon, researcher, writer, family man . . . you name it.  The intro of Duhigg’s book is all about Gawande, and he really wants to interview the guy and find out his secrets, but he never does.  I was left with a letdown feeling at the end of the book.

Last week Jim and I watched a PBS “Frontline” episode that featured Gawande in his role as a cancer surgeon.  (I really like this program, but during concert season I’m always at rehearsal on Tuesday nights. Yes, I know I could watch the episodes online, but that never seems to happen.)  Seeing Gawande in action re-ignited my curiosity about him, and this time I decided to do a little research of my own. A 2009 article about him in Harvard Magazine unravels the mystery quite clearly; I’m very puzzled that Duhigg didn’t include this infor-

Pictured is the journalist Leslie T. Chang at her TED talk given in June of 2012.  (And if you’re not familiar with TED talks, I would strongly recommend a sampling of them, freely available on YouTube, Netflix, and on their own website, ted.com.  TED stands for “technology, education, and design,” which covers just about any subject you’d like to think of.  These talks are held in various venues around the world, and to be chosen to give one is a great honor. Speakers must limit themselves to 18 minutes or less, so you never have to think you’re getting into some long-term scuzzamagorski.  You can listen to a TED talk while you’re eating your lunch.  You’ll be seeing other TED-talk-related posts on this blog.)

“Oh, lots of things happen to folks. Sickness or being poor and hungry, being old and afeared to die. That’s the way it is, cradle to grave, and you can stand it. There’s just one way: you gotta be hardy. You gotta be. You can’t deserve the sweet and tender in life unless’n you’re tough.”

From Oklahoma!, last act, spoken by the character Aunt Eller. I’d never watched the movie or seen the musical, but our local PBS station was running it Saturday night and I figured it might be worth 15 minutes or so.  Of course I got drawn in.  We’ve found that old “classic” movies tend to be a disappointment.  (This is particularly true of any movie starring Katherine Hepburn.  I agree wholeheartedly with the critic who said, “Miss Hepburn runs the gamut of emotions from A to B.”)  I wasn’t expecting much but ended up thoroughly enjoying the show, with the notable exception of the dream ballet sequence, which is