Life

How you value life. How I value it is, if you can put your shoes on each morning, you’re ahead of the game.

I come from an era of people being crushed by polio, either killing them or dismantling their ability to walk, talk, work, because the virus attacked their nervous system and they weren’t able to function.

Some when people say to me, “How are you doing today?” And I say, “I can put my shoes on today.”

I look at it very basically, and I can function.

I remember a patient. He had polio so bad, the only thing left on him that functioned was his big toe. And he went to work every day, with a special phone, the telephone company gave him, so he could activate it with his big toe. He was an insurance executive, and someone drove him to work. He went to work, and used his big toe to activate the machine.

And he was a happily married guy.