Goodbye, Dana Reeve

Well, I actually burst into tears at work reading the heartbreaking news that Dana Reeve, 44, has died from lung cancer.

Christopher and Dana Reeve were remarkable people. Dana's devotion to Christopher after his horrific accident, and their joint commitment to their cause and their own lives together is something that can be truly admired.  And it *can't* have been easy for them - yet they kept up their work and kept their private lives private (a rare thing these days, it seems) and never once strayed from their own personal committments.  When Christopher died, I was torn in thinking 'he's free' on one hand, and yet being sad that health care had lost such a strong, intelligent and open advocate.  Dana's continued committment spoke volumes, and gave me even more reason to admire her.

When I heard that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer, I couldn't believe it.  It truely did just seem to be that unfair.  And even though lung cancer is one of the more virulent strains, I hoped that she could be one of the rare ones who could beat it.  And true to her nature, it was announced she was infected and then we didn't really hear another word about it until this sad announcement of her death from the disease.  My heart breaks even more thinking of Dana and Christopher's 13 year old son, and how he must be feeling having lost both parents in such a short time when he is so young.  Certainly there are family & friends comforting him, and no doubt telling him to be proud of the people his parents were, but I'm sure on one level he just doesn't care about any of that and is just angry & hurt.  I hope he works through that as best he can and as quickly as he can, becuase he did have remarkable parents and I cant image they want him to be anything other than happy.

It's hard to find heroes that are real flesh and blood; it's hard to name how you measure a 'real' hero.  My heroes have always been those people who embody true compassion, commitment and the humor you need to get through things in life.  Christopher and Dana Reeve were 'real heroes', in my own view of things, and I hope I demonstrate such qualitites in a regular fashion.

Delusional or Just Utterly Morally Bankrupt?

The executives of Enron are starting to trickle through the legal system, and each trial builds on the last.  If one thought the first revelations were bad, it only goes downhill faster as each subsequent round of evidence and testimony comes out.

So today we have an article on the current trial of Andrew Fastow, with the headline "Ex-Enron CFO says believed he was 'hero'" Questionable structure of that headline aside, the statment is enough to make one gag.  Essentially, Fastow is defending his actions by stating that in his eyes he was being a 'hero' becuase he was "making money" for Enron hand-over-fist.  It simply boggles the mind.  And of course his language now is all framed in past-tense, as he is trying to say he saw the error of his ways.  Fastow is not delusional, nor do I feel he is repentant in any way.  He is pissed off that he was caught and his admittedly ingenious ways of siphoning cash and creating smoke & mirror balance sheets all came crashing down.   There was no compunction or remorse for what they were getting away with at the time, only a lot of delighted pride that they were in fact getting away with it.  And Fastow was the key mastermind behind the accounting games they played.  

Personally, I could hold a great deal of bitterness towards Fastow and these other morally corrupt smug gits from Enron as I lost my job becuase of them, but all in all I actually came out ahead from their actions.  The thousands of people who lost *everything* becuase of these people, including a well deserved comfortable retirement, have bigger fish to fry with Fasotw and his ilk (Enron is hardly the only guilty firm in these games; Worldcom, WasteManagment, etc. etc. etc....).  Sometimes one wishes for a resergence in the practice of tar and feathering.  People like this, although a minority among the millions of hard working, honest & dedicated finacial professionals, are the reason people think ill of the 'business person', and make passive-agressive jokes about the greed and lack of caring for others demonstrated by anyone who knows how to read a balance sheet.  

But, such is the way of life.  Fastow may end up spending a few moths or years in a white collar prison, but that isn't any real skin off his back.  However I personally take satisfaction in the belief that the fact that Enron collapsed in on Fastow and he 'failed' are going to prey on him for the rest of his life.  Not any remorse for his actions, but the fact that he has been booted out of his version of 'paradise': smarter and richer than you, and you don't even get how I'm doing it.

And I highly recommend watching "Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room" no matter what walk of life you come from.  It is a fascinating portrait in hubris and nemisis, not a study in financial inner workings, and it applies to all of us.