I’ve been a fan of George Will for a long time. I don’t always agree with his conclusions, but I love his writing style, and I can’t really disagree too much with someone who loves the game of baseball as much as he does.
He usually writes about politiics, or foreign policy, and baseball. In Thursday’s Washington Post, though, he writes something intensely personal that may be one of the best Op-Ed columns I’ve read in awhile.
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — The long dying of Louise Will ended here recently. It was time. At 98, her body was exhausted by disease and strokes. Dementia, that stealthy thief of identity, had bleached her vibrant self almost to indistinctness, like a photograph long exposed to sunlight.
It is said that God gave us memory so we could have roses in winter. Dementia is an ever-deepening advance of wintry whiteness, a protracted paring away of personality. It inflicts on victims the terror of attenuated personhood, challenging philosophic and theological attempts to make death a clean, intelligible and bearable demarcation.
Louise Will was his mother, and I feel bad even quoting that much of the column, because it feels like I’m stealing something that I shouldn’t. But, I had a Grandmother who lived in the fog of dementia for almost a decade before she was at peace, and this just hit home.
Heck, this may be the best thing George Will has ever written. And that’s saying something.
Read the column yourself and see what I mean.
July 13th, 2006 at 10:33 am
What is the weak, limp-wristed, red nee pink garbage from George Will in my Washington Post.
George, if I wanted to read this crap, I?d read Frank Rich in the Times.
You?re a Conservative! Write like a Conservative!
You?ve cut your financial losses and future expenditures. You?ve reduced your risk and will now able to maximize your profit.
Even better, you?ve got money coming to you. Stocks, bonds, securities. That?s what Conservative Americans care about.
Next time you want to write one of these touchy feely pieces, don?t!
July 13th, 2006 at 10:45 am
You are either joking or one of the more insensitive people I’ve ever met. I seriously considered deleting your comment, but decided to leave it so all could see.
July 13th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Son,
We’re at war. Do you think members of al Qaeda cries about their respective mommies?
Do you expect to make any money on Wall Street with that kind of weak attitude? Gives me the Willies!
We’re being attacked on all sides, and George writes this feeble matter material.
An old woman. Dead. Bury her. Split up the booty with the siblings. Send flowers on Memorial Day. Next.
The problem with this country, and with our alleged Conservative scribes like Will and Jonah Goldberg is that they’ve forgotten the toughness and demands necessary to triumph over our enemies, foreign and domestic.
George loved Mommy. Jonah loved Daddy. They had money. You’ve got it now. Cry the crocs, speak to the attorneys, and invest in our great nation.
And stop with Crock-A-Mommy-and-Daddy columns. They’re dead. As John Miller told us via the Eagles in the Top 50 Conservative rock songs…
“I’d like to find your little child/
And kick its little ass/
Get over it!”
July 13th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
I was wrong.
You’re neither joking nor insensitive. You’re just an idiot.
July 13th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
Matched up against a man (?) with such an impressive vocabulary and ability to argue his (?) position, what can I type?
What would be the challenge, I ask you?
Weakness kills.
Allow weakness to ferment, and we risk our country.
July 13th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
What do you plan on doing next, insult my mother?
Calling for yours?
Child’s play, but what can one expect from a Beltway type?
July 13th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Have a nice life
July 13th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
A life of hard work and dedication to our nation.
Unlike the Potomac crowd, where the Beltway means three-day work weeks and general laziness. So you can be excused for your inactivity. It’s just the way in the Beltway.
I have investments to monitor. Work resumes.
Have you ever worked, or do you merely spend your time coddling questionable Conservatives and Beltway Barons like Georgie?
July 13th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Well, for how busy you are I guess I should thank you for stopping by here and commenting…….
You obviously don’t like George Will and didn’t like the column. Fine. We’ve established that.
I did like it and don’t mind when someone who spends all their time writing about politics comes up with something personal.
And to answer your question, yea, I do work and I enjoy it and it keeps me busy.