"The Lay of the Land" by Richard Ford: a reader's journal (13)

On survival

My wishes for this Season, the Xmasey Season, the best-wishy, the warm-hearted, mulled wine and eggnoggy. Sometimes cruel, sometimes generous. If we are able to elude the sarcastic underlying streak, we could even take this for what it says (still the words of a man searching for meaning).

"(...) banish fear, think that instead of having suffered error and loss, he's survived them (but won't survive them indefinitely), that today could be the first day of his new life, then he'd be fine. In other words, accept the Permanent Period as your personal savior and act not as though you're going to die tomorrow but - much scarrier - as though you might live." (p.423)


(Norwegian Butter Cookies, survival weapons)