I was having a highly charged conversation on my cell phone the other day as I was cruising along a California freeway at about seventy-five miles per hour. My friend, on the other line, was venting about how disappointed she was that Hillary dropped out of the presidential race so quickly.
"Why didn't she give it a chance?" she griped. "The least she could have done was give it a few more months."
She went on to tell me how much she had supported Hillary and now considered her 'Hillary, The Quitter.' I agreed. Too many people quit before they should: I thought the Detroit Pistons should never have dropped out of the playoffs, either. Who cares if they lost? Stay in it. Where's your tenacity? Where's your heart? Just keep showing up ready to play, and be prepared to fight the opposing team for locker space. Show them that you're a winner.
And what about the young kid that quit on American Idol after they proclaimed David Cook the winner this year? Have you no shame? Demand a recount, I say and keep showing up ? cameras or no cameras. You never know. Oh, and let's not forget Sadaam Hussein. He didn't have to come out of that spider hole but he did. Why? Because he was a quitter.
Unlike those people, I am not a quitter. I can honestly say I've never quit anything in my life. Instead I tend to put things in a holding pattern, and leave the door open for the future. If the door happens to close on its own because I've failed to quit, so be it. At least I didn't say the words myself. I mean, seriously, why burn bridges by quitting? It only causes headaches and resentment. Hey, I've had jobs in the past that I left but never actually quit. Why? Because I'm not a quitter.
Let's face it, quitting is for quitters. Me? I just stop showing up. I assume that my desk, taxi, waiter's tray, drive-thru window, presidential campaign, whatever, is still there and available to me. Likewise, I am proud to say that I don't have any ex-girlfriends because I never officially quit them. The cowboy in the movie Brokeback Mountain had it right when he told his lover, "I just can't quit you!" It's not in his DNA to quit, and I can't say that I blame him. There is something soothing about knowing that my past girlfriends are still available to me. All of them, that is, except for Laurie, but even with a restraining order I did not quit her. I continue to keep an eye on her at a minimum distance of 500 feet until I can find a way to make that restraining order quit itself.
It's reassuring to know that there are other people like me out there. You know who else is not a quitter? Bill Clinton. We all know that. Even under oath he stood by his story. He looked directly into the camera and said, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." And according to the recent Vanity Fair magazine, he allegedly has not quit his indiscretions, either. You go, Bill! Maybe Hillary can learn a thing or two from you.