Offending the Gods

"It might be thought the height of poor taste to ascribe good fortune to a healthy man with a young family stuck down at the age of sixty by an incurable degenerative disorder from which he must shortly die. But there is more than one sort of luck. To fall prey to a motor neuron disease is surely to have offended the Gods at some point, and there is nothing more to be said. But if you must suffer thus, better to have a well-stocked head." -Tony Judt 

This phrase is found on the first page of the book, but Tony Judt maintains opinions similar to this one throughout the memoir. As stated in previous blog entries, Judt suffers from a disorder that has killed him slowly. The author states that the reason behind this disorder is some offence toward the Gods. In a way, he blames himself for this sickness in a way that not many do. However, I don't think it's his fault he has fallen into this sickness. 

In my opinion, we all offend the Gods in some way and you could be the most religious person there is and never offend Them, but still have the same chances of suffering from such a disease. Unfortunately, no one knows the exact causes of these degenerative diseases, meaning that they are unavoidable. Judt was not very religious, but he was jewish and did go to the synagogue once in a while. Apart from this he was very interested in Zionism and in fact, dedicated a part of his life to this belief. Regardless of this, he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's and it does not mean he did something to deserve this disease. He just unluckily developed it in his late years. 

By a well-stocked head, Judt refers to intellect. This degenerative disease does not affect his head or mind in any way, in fact, he was reasonable all throughout the disease. Judt put a great effort into becoming highly knowledgeable his whole life, which is why he may have this gratitude toward being able to conserve this knowledge. After all, how lucky would it be to lose all those years of dedication?