Friday, November 9, 2007

Triumph over failure

I wonder how many of you knew that the legendary Polish pianist Artur Rubinstein almost did himself in?
While as a youth, struggling in Europe to establish a career, and without family or friends for support, he decided, in a seedy hotel, to end it all.
He tied what I remember to be his bathrobe belt to a secure fixture on the ceiling, and the other end around his neck. He then kicked the chair out from underneath.
The belt snapped, and Rubinstein ended up on the floor in a heap. After a few indescribable seconds, he broke into uncontrollable laughter and vowed then and there to live life to the fullest. He succeeded, as he lived to be 96.
Let us rejoice in some failures.
Incidentally, Rubinstein first divulged this incident in an interview with a young Canadian, Robin MacNeil, who later became Robert MacNeil of the famed MacNeil/Lehrer Report .

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