DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN
American writer (1943 - )
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On nights filled with tension and concern, Franklin Roosevelt
performed a ritual that helped him to fall asleep. He would
close his eyes and imagine himself at Hyde Park as a boy,
standing with his sled in the snow atop the steep hill that
stretched from the south porch of his home to the wooded bluffs
of the Hudson River far below. As he accelerated down the hill,
he maneuvered each familiar curve with perfect skill until he
reached the bottom, whereupon, pulling his sled behind him, he
started slowly back up until he reached the top, where he would
once more begin his descent. Again and again he replayed this
remembered scene in his mind, obliterating his awareness of the
shrunken legs inert beneath the sheets, undoing the knowledge
that he would never climb a hill or even walk on his own power
again. Thus liberating himself from his paralysis through an act
of imaginative will, the president of the United States would
fall asleep.
- No Ordinary Time [Books (First Lines)]
Last Revised: 2008 June 30
Copyright © 1999-2008 John C. Shepard. All Rights Reserved.
The GIGA name and logo are trademarks registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by John C. Shepard.
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