For the last year and a half I have seen one man fight the shithole that was his life with dignity, humor and indomitable spirit. He had to fire everyone in his lab because he ran out of funding. His grants kept getting rejected because he had no one in his lab to generate new data, and so he was basically writing the same grant over and over. And he had till the end to of this year to get funding or he would have to leave, and his lab would be shut down. He went through immense personal tragedy (that I am not at liberty to reveal), but suffice it to say it was sufficient to break any normal human being's spirit.
And yet he showed up in the lunch room everyday. The lunch room is the place where everyone on my floor meets everyday to eat, and solve the world's problems. We trash Bush. We diss the cafeteria food. We discuss the South Beach diet. We exchange gardening tips. We celebrate when the Celtics/Patriots/Red Sox win, and commiserate when they lose. He showed up in the lunch room everyday, while he was going through personal and professional hell; and he made wonderful conversation. We all knew the crap he was going through. And he never let on. Just made funny jokes, and really erudite conversation, and incredibly astute political observations.
And I heard a few days ago that he is well placed to get an NIH grant. Just when the department was warming up to throw him a retirement party, and buy him a nice going away gift. He's back. He's SO back. And words cannot express how much I admire him for fighting this and coming out on top. I can't ever tell him that.We are not on those kind of terms. We may share a common dislike for Hillary Clinton, but thats about it. So this online tribute that he will never read is about as good as it gets. Cheers to Him, and cheers to his wonderful attitude and zest for life! If I can be one-third the person he is, my life will be happy, full and fulfilled.
And yet he showed up in the lunch room everyday. The lunch room is the place where everyone on my floor meets everyday to eat, and solve the world's problems. We trash Bush. We diss the cafeteria food. We discuss the South Beach diet. We exchange gardening tips. We celebrate when the Celtics/Patriots/Red Sox win, and commiserate when they lose. He showed up in the lunch room everyday, while he was going through personal and professional hell; and he made wonderful conversation. We all knew the crap he was going through. And he never let on. Just made funny jokes, and really erudite conversation, and incredibly astute political observations.
And I heard a few days ago that he is well placed to get an NIH grant. Just when the department was warming up to throw him a retirement party, and buy him a nice going away gift. He's back. He's SO back. And words cannot express how much I admire him for fighting this and coming out on top. I can't ever tell him that.We are not on those kind of terms. We may share a common dislike for Hillary Clinton, but thats about it. So this online tribute that he will never read is about as good as it gets. Cheers to Him, and cheers to his wonderful attitude and zest for life! If I can be one-third the person he is, my life will be happy, full and fulfilled.
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