Wisdom from Roger Ebert

[pegkerr]

Here's a great column, "Go Gentle Into That Good Night" from film critic Roger Ebert, talking about facing the inevitability of his own death. I particularly liked this:

I drank for many years in a tavern that had a photograph of Brendan Behan on the wall, and under it this quotation, which I memorized:

I respect kindness in human beings first of all, and kindness to animals. I don't respect the law; I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.

For 57 words, that does a pretty good job of summing it up. "Kindness" covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.

Ebert's blog is syndicated at ebertsuntimes. Thanks to shakes_sis for the link.

Comments

[joy0823.livejournal.com]

I love this quote. Thanks for sharing!

[aome.livejournal.com]

A lovely sentiment, indeed. Wish more people lived by those ideals.

As a side note, I especially noted Ebert's laid-back views on death; it does not trouble him to know that some day he will end and "that will be that". In contrast, I am married to a man who lives in complete terror that he might not exist someday, that there won't be an afterlife, and he will just ... stop being. Arguments that "if you no longer exist, you won't notice" only make him feel worse. I don't understand his irrational anxiety any more than he likely understood my agoraphobia 10 years ago - such is the nature of irrational anxieties, I guess, but I wish I knew how to soothe him. Would be easier if he took Ebert's "come what may" attitude.

[moony]

May I reproduce this on my own LJ? There are definitely some folk reading that need to take this kind of thing to heart.

[bohemianspirit.livejournal.com]

To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts.

That's a quotable in itself. Thanks for posting this! I was recently wondering if Roger Ebert was still alive; I know he had at least two bouts with cancer.

[mmmgood.livejournal.com]

Long time reader, piping up to say thank you for this. It made me cry, it is so exactly what I believe, and so well said.