How the Big and Important Differ from Me

Here's poor Paul Krugman worried and vexed and restless and anxious. Funny. I have none of these problems. But I live a life of anonymity. I take the Biblical saying literally: dust to dust. But Krugman is a "big man" and he shows his neuroses in this posting:

Grant, Lee, and me

Somewhere — Bruce Catton? — I read that during the final months of the Civil War there was a strange contrast in demeanor between Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee. Lee was serene in the face of near-inevitable defeat; Grant jumpy and anxious in the face of near-certain victory. The reason was obvious: Lee knew that whatever happened, history would judge him as someone who gave his all (in a terrible cause, but that’s beside the point I’m making). Meanwhile Grant feared making some last-minute blunder or suffering some strange mischance that would throw it all away.

That’s kind of the way I’m feeling about health care reform right now, even though, obviously, I’m not in charge of anything. Yes, I think that for all its flaws it’s a great victory for progressives. And it’s almost, almost there — so close that I’m having sleepless nights thinking of the unlikely ways it could go wrong.

I don’t think I’ll be really calm until Obama signs the bill.

The world would be boring if everyone were like me. We need these neurotic big shots to make our petty lives more interesting. I still think I have the right perspective on life, but I enjoy the Paul Krugman's of the world.