Life in the Broken Places

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places." 

- Ernest Hemingway

Life is hard.  Or, I should say, a fulfilling life is hard.  It doesn't just happen to you, you have to work at it.  I like things easy, and since I was born an upper-middle class straight white male in the United States, I've had it pretty easy.  I've valued the avoidance of hard work, if results can be obtained by shortcuts and half-measures.

I've learned recently that I have a lot of bad habits in this area, along with a sense of entitlement to an easy life.  I've also learned recently that an easy life cannot really be enjoyed, just tolerated. 

The President isn't taking it easy.  I'm sure there are plenty of knowledgeable people who would tell him that he needs to fix the economy, then get universal health care, then develop a new energy strategy, then get us out of Iraq, then stabilize Afghanistan, then provide meaningful education to the nation's children.  So, is that what he is doing, taking the easy route, one small half-victory at a time?

Nope.  He was elected to do all of that, and he appears to have decided just doing one thing does not preclude doing all of the rest.  Poker analogies are popular these days, so the phrase I keep hearing is he's going "all in."  Like doing what he campaigned to do, what he promised to do, and what he was elected to do is the biggest risk in the world.  I think not doing all of that is the risk.  President Obama is not a man to settle.

If life is hard, if the "world breaks everyone," as Hemingway wrote, it educates us, too.  The hardships, the difficulties, and what we learn about ourselves when we face them are what give us life, what make us "strong in the broken places."

On a cold February day, when the challenges of both the world and our lives, can seem overwhelming, I'm trying to remember a few things.  One, what I choose to gain out of this experience is greater than difficulty of it; and two, I am not alone.  My life is not a kayak, with me paddling all by myself in the face of angry seas, but a outrigger, with as many people rowing as I choose to let in the boat.

My Grandfather and Obama's Speech

I have a framed photograph of my grandfather (my mother's father) on my bookshelf. It is a studio shot, I'm guessing from 1919 or 1920, right after he returned from France. He's dressed in his uniform, and looks very sharp and neat with his hair combed back. He fought with the Third Division, which according to his Victory Medal, fought in the Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, and Defensive Sector. He's not wearing the medal in the photo.

I never knew him.  His name was James Patrick Grady, and he died almost fifty years ago, around this time of year.

He was in Company C, Fifth Field Signal Battalion, and ended the war with the rank of corporal. I have his helmet, his Victory Medal, the photo, another panoramic photograph of the devastated French countryside, and the Third Division's History from 1917 to 1919. There is a photograph of my grandfather stringing wire on page 286. Hand-written on the inside front cover is a short note, unsigned. The impression is that it was written on all copies of the History. It says, "The blue [on our emblem] is for our comrades who paid their all for America and the three white stripes are for the three major offensives that the Division took part in. The first was the Battle of the Marne. The second one is for the St. Mihiel offensive. The third is the one that can't many a lad's remember, is the Meuse-Argonne. We will never forget it." The handwriting is hard to read in some parts, but I've copied it as best as I can.

Does anybody remember World War I? The Third Division earned the nickname "Rock of the Marne" for their steadfastness in the Second Battle of the Marne, holding their ground while the French units on the flanks retreated, and repelling the Germans until the French regrouped. One of it's regiments was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm by the French for this action.

The Third Division spent 99 days on the front lines. Over two-thousand of them died there, and about ten-thousand were wounded.  That's almost half of their twenty-seven thousand men.  Imagine if our units in Iraq and Afghanistan lost men at that rate.  

The United States is a spoiled nation.  The prosperity that has seemed a given since our victory in World War II was built upon the work of generations before, who didn't get the GI Bill, or television, or fast food, or cell phones, or any of the conveniences we don't even think twice about.  We have been given it all, except any sense of responsibility for it.

But maybe that can change.  President Obama does feel the responsibility for it, as we've heard him talk about his grandfather's participation in Patton's Third Army in World War II.  And we saw that last night.  His speech can be summed up by a few words, "It's our problem, we can solve it, so let's get to it."

Or as his favorite comic book hero knows so very well, "with great power comes great responsibility."

Rowing Machine

A few weeks ago I started using a rowing machine at the gym.  I had been vaguely interested in it ever since I joined, but never used it.  My wife and I go to the gym together on Saturday mornings, and when we got there there was only one free elliptical trainer, so she suggested that I try the rowing machine.

I love it.

I'm not sure why I am more motivated by this machine more than by running, or using the elliptical, but there is something about it that is just more fun.  Maybe it's because the work is spread throughout more of the body, maybe it's just because you get to sit down.  

I realized this weekend that I was not using the machine quite right - I was using to much energy in my arms to pull, rather than letting my legs drive me.  On Saturday, after my elliptical workout, I spent a few minutes ironing out my form so that I would be more efficient.  Monday, I rowed 6000 meters, and felt fresher than I had a week before rowing 5000.  I practically skipped to the bus stop.  If you told me a year ago I would be giddy after a workout, I would have given you a begrudging "hah, right" and gone on to more serious things.  

My wife told me that once I started working out, it would make me feel better about myself, for all sorts of reasons.  She was right.  I am a very cautious person, and the success I have had with the rowing machine, and the way it makes me feel, is encouraging.  It makes me feel like I can take what I want to do more seriously, because I can accomplish whatever I set my mind to do.

Slumdog Smiling

I went to bed before the end of the Oscars last night, so I just found out who won the "big" awards, and I have a confession to make.

I don't really have any idea what Slumdog Millionaire is about.

I consume my RDA of poppy infotainment via the Internets, but I don't know if I've read or even seen a single review of it anyway in more normal outlets. Now, I have purposely not gone out of my way to find anything out about it - something tells me I should see it without any preconceptions about what it's about.

The other big movies are hard to ignore. Benjamin Button, with it's attachment to the Bradjolina hype machine. I thought one of Hugh Jackman's best lines last night was about how he was contractually obligated to mention them every five minutes. I used to live in San Francisco, so I had been keeping on eye on Milk for a long time, anyway. Then there's Doubt, which I'm sure is a fine movie, but with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, the ET media was pushing the thespian angle harder and harder and harder. And that leaves Frost/Nixon, with two things that Hollywood just can't get enough of: Ron Howard and Watergate.

But somehow, Slumdog Millionaire stayed off of my radar. Danny Boyle is no stranger to me, I've seen four of his movies, and loved Trainspotting. I remember being disappointed when he left the fourth Alien movie.

But I have seen a couple of awards shows, and seen him interviewed on TV, and I can't say there's a bloke more deserving (I'm not English, nor do I live in England, but that guy's a bloke). My wife said after seeing him on the red carpet he just seemed like a happy, relaxed, positive guy, and it seems like he just really loved the whole experience of making Slumdog Millionaire, loved Mumbai, loved all the people he wouldn't have met otherwise. He just seems completely genuine about everything he was able to take away from it, and that makes me happy. And it shows that if you throw out a bunch of energy like that, unconditionally, you'll get it back in ways you might never dream of. I'm quite sure Danny Boyle didn't get his movie made by convincing suits it would be a prestige film, or even thought while he was making it or even after it was completely cut and finished, "this is going to win the Oscar." I think he just thought about telling the story he wanted to tell, in the way he wanted to tell it, and the rest was just gravy. You can feel the intensity of belief he felt in his project whenever he talks about it.

I don't really have any idea what Slumdog Millionaire is about, but that hasn't stopped it from making me feel, well, happy. I feel like smiling. I can't wait to see it.