Filed under: Comment
Paul wrote a stunning post recently about perspective.
Actually that does it a huge disservice, but I haven’t got the skill or the talent to do it justice so I just suggest you go and read it.
Following on from that, I recently spoke to a friend who gave me a similar reminder about the real issues that people go through, issues which are about as far removed from the ‘problems’ adland likes to trade off as is physically possible.
In short, for the past 7 years, my friend’s wife has been slowly dying.
Some days the news has been good.
Some days the news has been bad.
Right now, the news is horrible.
He knows it.
She knows it.
Their young child knows it.
The chances of her seeing her 40th birthday are almost nil.
Imagine that.
Imagine how that must feel.
Not just dying before, what should be, the prime of your life … but leaving behind the people you love most in your life.
People you should be looking forward to a great future with.
People you should be seeing grow and develop thanks to your guiding hand and your nurturing heart.
I can’t imagine it.
I don’t want to imagine it.
It makes me feel a sense of desperation just thinking about it … and yet that is the very situation my friends wife is facing and the fact she can handle it with amazing strength, dignity, grace and positivity makes a total mockery of all the things we regard as annoyances in our life.
Bad food in a restaurant.
Bad traffic on the way to work
Bad results from your local football team.
Bad emails from a colleague, client or boss.
Bad timeframe to do an ad campaign for a client.
We have lost the plot.
We have lost our way.
Thank god for people like Tina.
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nice post about a fucking great person campbell.
Comment by andy@cynic November 25, 2011 @ 6:23 amfor once youve done me proud.
What can I say, she brings out the best in everyone. Even me. And you.
Comment by Rob November 25, 2011 @ 7:54 ammainly you.
Comment by andy@cynic November 25, 2011 @ 8:08 amthough you know im going to remind you about this post next time you say nottingham fucking forest are ruining your life.
Comment by andy@cynic November 25, 2011 @ 6:24 amYes, but everyone slips off the wagon at some point.
Comment by Rob November 25, 2011 @ 7:53 amcolman writes well doesnt he. maybe he can teach you a few things. but i doubt it. youre a stubborn bastard.
Comment by andy@cynic November 25, 2011 @ 6:26 amwhenever ive heard some fucker call an ad campaign “brave” or a footballer “honourable” ive regarded them as a bunch of fucking retards who need to be sent to live in nottingham. but when i think of the shit tina is going through and her fucking amazing ability to stay positive and nice, it makes me want to go back to those fuckers an give them a lesson in what those fucking 2 overused bastard words really mean. then smash their fucking heads in.
Comment by andy@cynic November 25, 2011 @ 6:40 amEverything is relative …
Sure, someone calling an ad campaign ‘brave’ is a bit sad, as is someone calling a $100,000 per week footballer who leaves his team to get $103,000 per week, ‘honourable’ … but that’s how some people look at life, though that could be because they haven’t been put in the situation that Tina and her family have or they just have a very weird view of evaluating things.
That said, it’s too easy to start calling people like Tina ‘saints’. Without doubt, what they go through is beyond comprehension and it is unbelievably unfair … however serious illness, regardless how well you cope with it, does not give you a fast-track to sainthood, however in Tina’s case – for details I won’t go into here – she is one and we’d all do well to look at her ability to be selfless at a time where she would be within her every right to demand total and utter attention.
Comment by Rob November 25, 2011 @ 7:53 amyoure being sensible again campbell. fucking stop it.
Comment by andy@cynic November 25, 2011 @ 8:13 amNothing I can say or add.
Comment by DH November 25, 2011 @ 6:53 amThis is one of those times I keep my mouth shut isn’t it?
Comment by Billy Whizz November 25, 2011 @ 7:07 amthats fucking right it is.
Comment by andy@cynic November 25, 2011 @ 7:47 amHope everything works out for Tina. And the dust cloth guy.
Comment by Billy Whizz November 25, 2011 @ 7:08 amNice one Rob. And Paul’s post is great as well.
Comment by Pete November 25, 2011 @ 8:50 amnice post mate. definitely helps put some perspective out there.
Comment by Mike See November 25, 2011 @ 9:58 amHi mate – god, I’m amazed you’re on here, thought you had much better taste but I’m assuming it was Tina that pulled you in, not me or the other “interesting” individuals who pop along and pass on their vitriol.
Comment by Rob November 25, 2011 @ 10:01 ami love tina, top
Comment by niko November 25, 2011 @ 2:02 pmMorning, Rob.
Comment by Paul Colman November 25, 2011 @ 6:16 pmGreat post.
Comment by Rob Mortimer November 25, 2011 @ 6:20 pmPlanning is all about context and perspective, so is life.
My little boy is beginning to string sentences together and asked me this morning why I have to go away all the time.
Comment by northern November 25, 2011 @ 6:29 pmI find that hard enough, God know how they’re all coping.
I have nothing to add, just strong feelings for people I’ve never met.
off fucking topic but when do you head the fuck over?
Comment by andy@cynic November 28, 2011 @ 2:53 am