Democracy Has Prevailed.

May 18, 2014

Sad News This Morning.

I learned something that made me sad this morning.  It was when I read this from Richard Mellon Scaife:
Nothing gives perspective to life so much as death.

Recently, doctors told me I have an untreatable form of cancer.

Some who dislike me may rejoice at this news. Naturally, I can't share their enthusiasm.
For the record, while I have spent a great deal of time over the past few years criticizing both the tone and the content of his paper in general and his editorial page in particular (and I reserve the right to continue to do so), I do NOT rejoice at the news of Mr. Scaife's failing health.

Having lost my father to cancer 7 years ago and my mother to a particularly unforgiving combination of diabetes and congestive heart failure just 3 months ago, death's sting can be particularly piercing to me these days.  Yes, it's a part of life and all that but it's almost always sad when we hear the news that the unavoidable punctuation to the sentence we'd almost always like to have extended by a few more phrases is closer than we'd like.

Very sad, this end that awaits us all.

Whoever he was and whatever he did, Richard Mellon Scaife is someone's partner, someone's friend and someone's father.  They'll all be mourning their loss in one way or another - and it's a loss, I imagine, they'll feel for a long time.  Rejoicing in that loss, rejoicing in the knowledge that people are hurting on that deep a level, is simply inhuman. Selig sind, die da Leid tragen; denn sie sollen getröstet werden.

To Mr. Scaife personally, I'll use this venue to say that I am sorry to hear the news of your untreatable cancer - everything else aside, no one deserves that.

3 comments:

Maria Lupinacci said...

Very well put, David.

Sherry Pasquarello said...

yes, no one deserves cancer. i feel verry bad for him and his family and friends. hasn't changed my feelings toward him, but i hope things go easy for him.

Ol' Froth said...

I felt sorry for him until I read this: "Some who dislike me may rejoice at this news. Naturally, I can't share their enthusiasm." Now, I don't feel a shred of sympathy.

If he ever showed a shred of sympathy for those not born with a silver spoon in their mouths, I'd feel differently. But he is responsible for much evil in this world, and perhaps now he may learn a little bit of humility and hopefully, shame for what he's done.