Miles Levin: Whatever life we get is bonus!

This young man's words are so eloquent and insightful. Talk about someone who gets it!

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2007/05/whatever-life-we-get-is-bonus.html

There is something in his message for all of us.

Miles...:yourock:

Convince me of his argument.

And, yes, I would swap lives with him. (But would he for mine?)

plenty of what he wrote was moving, and sad. how in hell did you manage to latch onto the one little, probably throw-away line that was most emphatically *wrong*?

i've plenty of sympathy for the kid's unhappy plight, but i happen to believe he does, in fact, "deserve" to live a decent life, for any definition of "deserve" that fucking matters. that's why i'm in the midst of dedicating my life to do my small part to try to minimize this particular kind of injustice. the world is *not* fair. the young do not *deserve* to die, much less from cancer. anyone who says otherwise is either an asshole, probably an overly-religious asshole, or deluding themselves. this kid falls into the "deluding themselves" category. and if that works for him, then good. i hope his rationalization brings him comfort.

there are plenty of others out there, however, who truly "get it." they realize they deserve to live. they fucking know it. and they're goddamned right.

In fact, Miles did not mention *deserve* anywhere in his blog piece. I have not a clue where you read he does not *deserve* life?

My read was that as a person struggling with cancer, he sees himself as no different then anybody else when it comes to life and wanting the best of it. Yet he is making the best of his situation! This is not an OP - it is a kid writing from the heart.

I've spent most of my career working with kids in education; when I see a kid who expresses his world with optimism and self confidence (even when life for him may be short) - I celebrate that. :)

"The way I see it, we're not entitled to one breath of air. We did nothing to earn it, so whatever we get is bonus".

"entitled" here, clarified in the following sentence about us doing nothing to "earn" life is pretty clearly synonymous, as used, with "deserve."

that's the particular part referenced by the OP. and that's the one part that's bullshit. the kid can be forgiven, for it, obviously. he's facing death, and trying to rationalize it. i, however, disagree emphatically.