“On the off chance that you’re not going to live forever…”

“On the off chance that you’re not going to live forever, why not take a chance on being happy now?”

Further lending support to that thing about the blind hog and the acorn, while aimlessly wandering through The Newsroom clips on YouTube (How did I get here?) I came upon this one in which the Charlie Skinner character (Sam Waterston) is lecturing the Will McAvoy character (Jeff Daniels).  Skinner’s wisdom in the series often drips with sarcasm (thus, my affinity for his character), but it delivered the point in that scene — and does for us today.

The series is long gone of course, and Waterston (he would, I think, appreciate the irony)  has since passed away, but in this pandemic time where it seems so natural to put off damn near everything but the basics of life “until things get back to normal,” perhaps, just perhaps, there is some room to take Skinner’s advice, throw caution to the wind (but not the mask and social distancing), and, on the “off chance” that we are not immortal, “take a chance on being happy now.”