i used to carry this around with me in a notebook, long lost. most of it i’d memorized, but i needed the whole thing, so i ordered a 99� copy of ‘the franchise’ by peter gent (a novel about football, same author as north dallas forty, which i also read) just for this.
* * *
“my life is intense, boring, violent, temperate, creative, destructive, vital and irrelevant … and i am indestructible, frail, competitive, cooperative, selfish and generous. my fate is determined by meticulous planning and heedless happenstance, ingenious strategies and wild swings of the pendulum. i flip for both sides of the coin and get the edge. every day i confront unlimited contradictions with limited skills. i must succeed, though failure is inevitable. i keep on, each day expecting victory in the face of insurmountable problems, ever-increasing humiliations. i accept pain, fear, and defeat as due. i do not expect any luck but bad and know that if gods or spirits exist, they are arrayed against me. but each time i’m beaten down i get up and start over, reinforced only by my own ignorance. i refuse to quit the hopeless battle against chaos and darkness. my commitment is to life and man’s place in an endless war with death. i never quit and will die hard.”
“my life is intense, boring, violent, temperate, creative, destructive, vital and irrelevant … and i am indestructible, frail, competitive, cooperative, selfish and generous. my fate is determined by meticulous planning and heedless happenstance, ingenious strategies and wild swings of the pendulum. i flip for both sides of the coin and get the edge. every day i confront unlimited contradictions with limited skills. i must succeed, though failure is inevitable. i keep on, each day expecting victory in the face of insurmountable problems, ever-increasing humiliations. i accept pain, fear, and defeat as due. i do not expect any luck but bad and know that if gods or spirits exist, they are arrayed against me. but each time i’m beaten down i get up and start over, reinforced only by my own ignorance. i refuse to quit the hopeless battle against chaos and darkness. my commitment is to life and man’s place in an endless war with death. i never quit and will die hard.”
~peter gent
* * *
man, i wish i was cool.
huh? you *are* cool.
wish i’d written that! it is very relatable.
[sniffs armpit, looks at self in shiny thing] …really?
i guess i’m prone to false modesty at times.
i can’t recommend it.
this quote fucking rocks, in case i did not make my point clear.