Life Lessons

Today's NY Times has a profile of Valerie Jarrett: An Old Hometown Mentor, Still at Obama's Side. Vernon Jordan (remember him from the Clinton White House?) says of Jarrett, who's a cousin of his wife's:

“What Valerie developed is the art of telling people to go to hell and making them look forward to the trip.”

Jarrett keeps a list of 21 aphorisms--"life lessons"--on her hard drive, which she cites in speeches, including:

• All leaders are passionate about their beliefs, even the ones you don’t like.
• Put yourself in the path of lightning.

I also have favorite aphorisms, devised by my very own self:

• The world is filled with wankers.
• When the going gets tough, the tough go to bed.
  

The Friday before Election Day, I went to a (packed!) women's luncheon with Gloria Steinem as the keynote speaker, introduced by author and member of Denver Literary Ladies Luncheon, Debra Fine. The last question from the audience was posed by Andrea Joy Cohen MD, another LLL member and author of A BLESSING IN DISGUISE: 39 Life Lessons from Today's Greatest Teachers.

"What life lesson have you learned?" Andrea asked.

Steinem's response brought down the house:

"If you're part of the wrong group, nothing you do will be right. So you might as well do what you fucking well please."