I often say now I don't have any choice whether or not I have Parkinson's, but surrounding that non-choice is a million other choices that I can make.
Interpretation
Although I can't change my condition, I have the power to make choices in my life.
This quote by Michael J. Fox highlights the importance of perspective when faced with challenges. While he acknowledges the inevitability of his Parkinson's diagnosis, he emphasizes that there remains a multitude of choices he can make to lead a fulfilling life despite his circumstances. This distinction encourages individuals to focus on how they respond to their situations rather than being overwhelmed by what they cannot control.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
I find as long as I acknowledge the truth of something, then that's it. I know what it is and then I can operate. But if I overestimate the downside of something or the challenge of something and I get too obsessed about the difficulty of it, then I don't leave enough room to be open to the upside, the possibility.
My whole life, meeting people is like a blind date, because I feel like they've already seen the video on me.
There are no moments you have frozen in amber. It's moving, it's changing, so appreciate what's good about right now and be ready for what's next.
There's always failure. And there's always disappointment. And there's always loss. But the secret is learning from the loss, and realizing that none of those holes are vacuums.
Certainly people have a lot tougher situations than I've had to deal with. But I will say we are all dying from the moment we are born. This is not just rehearsal.
I'm a dad, I'm a husband, I'm an activist, I'm a writer and I'm just a student of the world.
Ask for work. If they don't give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, then take bread.
But steel bars have never yet kept out a mob; it takes something a good deal stronger: human courage backed up by the consciousness of being right.
The trouble is that nonviolence is so often defined as refusal to fight, and that is the American definition of cowardice. In fact, marching unarmed against the guns and dogs of the police requires more courage than does aggression. The perverted idea of manhood coming from the barrel of a gun is what keeps people from understanding nonviolence.
When you hear anyone policing the bodies of trans women, misgendering and othering us, and violently exiling us from spaces, you should not dismiss it as a trans issue that trans women should speak out against. You should be engaged in the dialogue, discourse, and activism that challenges the very fibers of your movement.
Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; wish to survive in the battle and you will surely meet death.
Real men despise battle, but will never run from it.
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