"The Good Short Life" by Dudley Clendinen

     In 2010, Dudley Clendinen was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, a disease which causes motor neurons to slowly die out in the brain and spinal chord. Clendinen wrote this essay when he was sixty-six, and knew that his life will end quickly. When thinking about his end, he wrote about his mother, who spent her last days living dependently and looked at her only son "as she might have at a passing cloud." With these thoughts, Clendinen decided that he did not want to go that way. He wrote this essay in order to show his readers that life is better short and sweet rather than long and painful.
     Clendinen was a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida and also worked with various other famous newspapers, including The New York Times. His pieces usually touched on aspects of his life: being gay, being an alcoholic, and discovering the meaning of life while diagnosed with a terminal illness. These personal touches bring pathetic appeal to his essay; he writes a great deal about his daughter, Whitney, whom he concludes has a harder time dealing with his disease than he does himself. His tone is accepting, as if he has come to terms with his fate. He writes, "We obsess in this country... About how to live. But we don't talk about how to die. We act as if facing death weren't one of life's greatest, most absorbing thrills and challenges." This essay is written for those who need a new perspective on life, since lately, most people are striving to live longer. Clendinen, on the other hand, realizes, "I don't worry about fatty foods... I don't worry about having enough money to grow old... I want to take the sting out of it, to make it easier to talk about death."
     Clendinen achieved his purpose by reminding his audience to make the most out of both life and death. He connects his ending life to the song "Dance Me to the End of Love" by Leonard Cohen, writing, "When the music stops... I'll know that Life is over." He also points out the irony in his writing: "This is not about one particular disease or even about Death. It's about Life, when you know there's not much left... It's liberating." He restates that his disease makes him think about his death, making him less jaded; he wants to make the most out of his short life.

Farewell

Lou Gehrig joined the New York Yankees in 1923 and had a fantastic career until he fell below .300 in 1938 for the first time in thirteen years. This made it clear there was something wrong. He retired on July 4, 1939 and died almost two years later. In his farewell speech, he concluded saying, "I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."
(Source: http://espn.go.com/mlb/photos/gallery/_/id/8337212/image/4/lou-gehrig-farewell-game-choice)