Comments
  1. The New YorkerDavid Sedaris12/31/1820 min
    5 reads5 comments
    5.7
    The New Yorker
    5 reads
    5.7
    You must read the article before you can comment on it.
    • Pegeen
      Top reader this weekReading streakScoutScribe
      5 years ago

      I agree with David Sedaris - he is the worst son. Humor instead of compassion, observations instead of engagement - sad, in my book.

      • bill
        Top reader of all time
        5 years ago

        I felt sad too, but also I felt a lot of light in the darkness. The humor, surely, had something to do with it. I gave this a 10 (although now I’m doubting that?) because I thought it was such an elegant mashup of so many high and low feelings (just like life!) and because above all else I felt like it was deeply honest and genuinely heartfelt.

        Also perhaps my opinion was swayed by the fact that I wasn’t the first reader. :P I think I was reader #4; it was definitely already in the top 10 when I noticed it. I guess I really wanted to love it, so then of course I did.

        • Pegeen
          Top reader this weekReading streakScoutScribe
          5 years ago

          I have had much experience with Father Time, personally, and within my own immediate family since I am the youngest at 63. I have felt and witnessed the vulnerability and devastation of loosing your sense of self, autonomy and independence and there’s not one thing funny about it. The fact that David Sedaris did not talk to or visit his father until 4 months after his fall just blew my mind. It’s totally unconscionable, in my opinion, and says volumes about his character. I have always disliked scarcam, as it has an undercurrent of hostility, anger and insecurity that is off putting. Oscar Wilde said, “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit but the highest form of intelligence.” Give me a child with heart any day! Aging, even without the complications of sickness, is a process of letting go and surrender which takes courage and authentic strength to navigate. Love, compassion and presence certainly go a long way in support of making this a very empowering time of your life. When you are young and healthy, you never think it’s going to happen to you - and then Father Time hits you over the head.

          • bill
            Top reader of all time
            5 years ago

            Bravo! Great points. And I really love that Wilde quote.

            • Pegeen
              Top reader this weekReading streakScoutScribe
              5 years ago

              Hey Bill, Now I’m laughing at myself, as I said I always disliked “scarcam” - dear God we need spell check on rr!!! What a hoot!