In reply to my piece, “Mark’s Welcome Comment” where Mark put down the “All is lost!” crowd, Derek says,
“You are right Bob. Suffering setbacks and losing more battles than you have won doesn’t make you defeated. Only YOU make you defeated.”
“Coming from a guy that has lost 90% of the battles (no matter how small, personal, or otherwise) in his life and is still getting up everyday I know what you mean. It is hard but it is good to have someone to lead the effort too, someone who knows. ”
I wonder how many readers remember the episode on “The Twilight Zone” where a thoroughly evil man thought he had gone to heaven?
Sebastian Cabot played the man he thought was an angel, and gave him everything he had ever wanted. This guy had been a loser all his life, and suddenly he had women, a great apartment, and everythng he played at he won.
And won.
And won.
And won.
He got bored to desperation. At the end of the show he was given a pool table but as soon as he broke, every single ball went into the right pocket.
Finally he called Cabot in and said, “I can’t stand this. I don’t belong in heaven, see? If I stay here another day I’ll go NUTS. I want to go to The Other Place (Hell was not a word used on TV back then.)”
Cabot replied, “HEAVEN!? What makes you think you’re in Heaven? This IS The Other Place!”
The show ended with Cabot laughing demonically and the little evil man trying desperatelt to escape.
A life spent fighting against the odds is a real life.
#1 by Derek on 12/13/2005 - 8:54 pm
I miss the old shows that had some semblance of an ethical stance. I remember when swearing was taboo. It makes TV boring. It makes our culture boring.