Forrest McDonald, Distinguished University Research Professor emeritus at the University of Alabama and one of our most eminent historians, has written a spirited memoir: “Recovering the Past.”
Scott Morris’ review in the Wall Street Journal notes the gracious conclusion:
He clearly believes himself to be a lucky man, engaged in work he thoroughly enjoys and blessed with the freedom to pursue it. After rehearsing the long evolutionary odds against human beings coming into existence, Mr. McDonald, age 77, concludes:
“Whether I am hungry or well fed, whether I am sick or healthy, or cold or comfortable, or honored and respected or despised and kicked and beaten, even that I shall soon be leaving, all is trivial compared to the fact that I got here. I am a miracle, and so, dear reader, are you.”
The conclusion to his book actually comes from his address to the last class he taught as a regular member of the faculty at Alabama, known on campus simply as The Speech, in which he marveled at his existence, given the “probabilities against my own existence — or yours:”
You can attribute this to God; or to big bangs, or to sheer blind luck; all I can do is shout hallelujah, I got here. My God, I got here! In the face of this colossal fact, I must exult in my gratitude, for everything else is trivial: . . . Fellow miracles, let us rejoice together.”
Shabbat Shalom.