A Good Short Life by Dudley Clendinen

A Family of Happiness

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy." - Dalai Lama
Spending time with family always brings happiness. When death is imminent, it would be better to spend the final days of life happily with people who care.
Source: http://www.ffbchammond.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Family.jpg

In A Good Short Life, Dudley Clendinen, a New York Times journalist, describes his grief and happiness as he suffered from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), a disease that still has no cure. Living for over 66 years, Clendinen offers short anecdotes about his major struggles and his moments of euphoria. Clendinen describes his fragmented, broken self as an emaciated old man who is in the pursuit of happiness. After neurologists gave Clendinen a diagnosis of his situation in November 2010, he reluctantly digested the fact that death was imminent. However, knowing that he was prepared for the end, he recalled the many joyous moments he had spent with his family and friends. He even made his life analogous to a song called “Dance Me to the End of Love” because he is currently “in the last rhythms of his life” (Clendinen 67). Although Clendinen has suffered with ALS since birth, he shows that anyone can still find joy. By being with family, friends, and people who care, Clendinen found his happiness. He believes that the best time to die is when you are happy, are satisfied with life, and are ready to end all the suffering. Understanding that people living with an incurable disease are unable to cope with it, Clendinen told his story. Directing his message to people inflicted with such diseases, Clendinen assures that being hedonistic is the best way to live life. He provides a message directly derived from his experiences, making him a resourceful person. The premise of this essay is to show how to be happy through a life of suffering, and Clendinen did so through the use of anecdotes and analogies. Clendinen’s anecdotes provide short stories about his feelings, and to underscore his message, he adds analogies by relating his feelings to music or things that he has done. This allows readers comprehend his experiences. Clendinen’s description of his life was so moving and interesting that he successfully accomplished his purpose of showing how people can still be happy through lives of suffering.