I’ve been reading David Maraniss’ First in His Class the biography of Bill Clinton. Yeah, so the thing came out in like 1993 which is older than some kids in college now. They are really smart kids to be in college so early, so just shut your pie hole. I have been meaning to get around to reading it, but I’ve just been busy. Plus I just haven’t had the shear ambition to read everything that sounds interesting. Ambition is clearly something Bill and Hillary Clinton were both born with. It is not something I was born with. Clearly this is true when it comes to reading current biographies.
I am not always bothered by my relative lack of ambition. By most accounts, Bill Clinton seems like the kind of guy who it would be fun to spend the day with but he clearly can get focused on one thing to the exclusion of all others. Ditto Hillary. Ditto Lance Armstrong. Much respect for Lance, but I’m sure he’s about racing bikes first. And I have wondered sometimes if I should be more like Bill or Hillary or Lance and go ahead and buckle down on one or two things to the exclusion of everything else just to see how far that particular train will go until the wheels fall off.
Then other times, I’d rather be more like Jamal, focused on Latika to the exclusion of everything else. Somehow, in his devotion, he is made noble. Unlike his brother Salim, who betrays his only family in the world on more than one occasion, Jamal’s every action makes him more worthy of Latika. In the end, every experience in Jamal’s life comes together to fulfill his greatest ambition. That ambition is love. What a great friggin’ movie.