A Good Run

In the end, the best you can do is have "a good run." We hear it all the time. Most recently in regards to Tom Watson. The guy is 60 years old and is still competitive on the PGA Tour. Witness the British Open last year and again in the US Open this year where he was tied for 16th after 3 days. He has had success at the sport for 45 years. Now that's a good run.

Another example is my father, Dr. Welton M. Gersony. The man has excelled at his calling, Pediatric Cardiology for 50 years. He still loves his occupation dearly and more than anything, at 78, wants to continued to be consider a leader in the field.

And in poker, no one has had a better run than Doyle Brunson. He has been playing poker for 65 years. Still loves it. Is still great at it. A lucky man.

Ruminating on the concept of "a good run," it seems that, especially when we are young, we think we can get more out of life than is possible. In the end, the very best we can hope for is "a good run." A period of time on earth where there is a beginning, a middle and an end in which things generally go quite well. Nothing goes perfect all the time during our run. Watson and my father both went through difficult divorces. Doyle survived the death of a daughter. They dealt with their difficulties and though I can't get into their heads, they, as well as many others, focused on the positive and got the most out of their passions.

Sure, we can all fantasize about having it all, money, great relationships, skill, recognition and fame. But rarely do we see these things for what they really are. They are fleeting. If they give us pleasure, satisfaction and happiness for some period of time, than we are blessed. Things that are not worthwhile need to be shed. For it is not only the thing, it is the thing in relation to time. If there is something you are dreaming of doing or acquiring, you need to do it when the window in time opens for such a thing to be done. If you don't, the window may be closed forever.

Poker, again, has proved to be an excellent microcosm of "a good run" concept. We even use the exact same phrase to describe it. We also call it "running hot" and "being on a heater." Every poker player can remember a good run. Sometimes it lasts for a few days, maybe a few weeks and occasionally for months on end. But one thing is always certain. It ends. But in poker we have multiple lifetimes. We may have many good runs (and bad ones - to be discussed some other time). Maybe that's why successful players rarely quit playing the game. There is a sense of immortality about the game even though we know, like everything else, it ends. Every session starts with a birth. Every hand is a new beginning.

Although most people think it is depressing to think of our lives as a finite time parcel, I think it allows us to live happier. We are aware of the transient nature of our existence so we try harder to squeeze every drop of satisfaction we can out of it. We don't let small things get us down, we learn to let a bad experience disappear into the past. We look at every minute as a gift and we learn that to achieve greater happiness, we must give happiness to others. For satisfaction does not only come from material acquisitions and a pampered life style. For some (myself included) these goals are only a small part of what gives inner peace. Achievement, help and honest actions are much higher on the list. In the end, it is not about us as individuals as much as it is about us as a whole.

Now go out their today, focus on your passions and enjoy your run.

Dalton Trumbo

If you missed it, you must see the PBS documentary about Dalton Trumbo. He was a screenwriter, a magnificent screenwriter from the 1950s. But more importantly, the man had ideals and he refused to surrender his values at, what turned out to be, great personal cost. But this blog isn't really about Dalton Trumbo. It's about Edward Lewis.

Mr. Tumbo was accused of being a communist by McCarthy in the early 50s. He refused to cooperate with the Unamerican Committee. He accused McCarthy and his henchmen as setting up a concentration camp for writers. Dalton was sent to jail for two years and then blackballed from his profession. He struggled mightly financially and socially. His friends were afraid to be seen with him. His 8 year old daughter was harrassed at her school to the point that she had to be pulled from the school. A treasure trove of Dalton's letters were recently discovered and are the most moving pieces of writing I have ever read.

But what I really found fascinating was the interview with Edward Lewis, the fine film producer who was 90 years old. This man had made tremendous amounts of money, won numerous awards for his films and had a wonderful marriage and several very successful offspring. He was ruminating with the interviewer about his life and said (I'm paraphrasing):

"As one gets toward the end of one's life, one spends a lot of time looking back at what they did over that time that they can say they are really proud of. Even though I lived an almost idealic life in so many ways, by far and away, the most proud moment in my life was when I insisted that Dalton Trumbo be listed in the credits for the movie Spartacus. Everyone said not to do it. He was toxic. He was blackballed. But the man wrote the screenplay and I demanded that he be given his due credit. It was the first movie after he was blackballed that he was given credit for. Nothing in my life compares to this act I did which I did just because I thought it was the right thing to do."

Its so easy to get caught up in the whole American dream shtick of trying to accumulate as much money as possible at any cost. But when it comes down to it, the only thing that really matters is the good that you do in the world. Make money - sure. But whenever you get an opportunity to do the right thing just for the sake of doing the right thing, grab it. You'll be a much happier person for it.