Word: brink
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...that is suicide." In other words, why stay alive in a meaningless universe? The existentialist replies that man must live for the sake of living, for the things he is free to accomplish. But despite volumes of argumentation, existentialism never seems quite able to justify this conviction on the brink of a death that is only a trap door to nothingness...
Back from the Brink. But for all his relative youth, Gottfried brings to his reviews a vital knowledge of the theater's past and an alertness to the world around him. Says he: "I have to have the largest possible working frame of reference. I have to know about jazz, Viet Nam, what's going on in Washington, the experimentation and adventures in tonality. If Baldwin or LeRoi Jones uses Harlem argot, I've got to know what it means." His familiarity with music and dance enables him to discuss a musical from book through choreography...
...thinking about a game just a week before on which he had scored 1800 points on the third ball--and tilted. He was thinking of the pool tall in Brooklyn where he had pushed his first flipper, never dreaming that someday he would be standing on the brink of greatness. He was thinking of his mother and father, who more than anything else in the world had wanted their little boy to grow up to be a pinball champion...
Retreat from Embarrassment. Faced finally with a choice between inglorious victory and unpalatable defeat, Ted Kennedy went all the way to the brink -and chose defeat. Though virtually none of his colleagues knew of his decision in advance, he notified President Johnson of his switch the night before the Senate showdown. He also tipped off Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, whose forces had become reasonably confident that they could scuttle Morrissey's nomination. After crossing the Senate floor to give Teddy an avuncular handclasp, old Ev rumbled: "It takes something for a young man to subdue his pride. It doesn...
...member's political imprudence is tolerable, even understandable -but only so long as it does not inconvenience his colleagues. Thus in the Senate's memory, Teddy's ill-advised efforts for an ill-equipped judicial nominee may be largely forgotten-while his retreat from the brink of embarrassment will be warmly remembered as an act of high courage. Outside the Senate, which is not likely to confine Teddy Kennedy's ambitions indefinitely, the Morrissey affair may be remembered as a negative entry in the record book of a clan that made great capital of the pursuit...