12.09.2001
Brian Dickinson
retires
By Robert Whitcomb
In the summer of 1992, our genial
and hugely well-traveled and well-connected friend and colleague, Brian
Dickinson, previously almost always in glowing
good health, reported weakness in his legs. Thus began a horrifying but also
inspiring struggle by our editorial columnist, who first joined The Journal
in 1964, after Harvard, the Army, The New York Times and Newsweek. Here he has
had a distinguished, nationally noted career as a reporter, writer and editor
— and, in the past nine years, as a heroic figure.
In 1992, Brian, as millions of people were to
learn, was in the first stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative
neurological disorder that has gradually paralyzed him over the past nine years,
leaving him immobile and dependent on a respirator. Perhaps no one has written
more movingly — or more precisely — about such a devastating experience.
For, astonishingly, he continues to write, for
the past several years via an amazing computer that reads his eye movements.
His valiant — and successful — efforts to remain an influential national commentator
have drawn attention from around the world. He has been the subject of network
TV and national newspaper profiles. And, in 1994, he won the American Society
of Newspaper Editors' Commentary Prize.
No wonder. Brian, with an indomitable spirit,
an intensely supportive family and a revolution in computer science, has written
with verve and command of material not only on passing issues, events and personalities,
but also with controlled emotion on what it is like to be afflicted by a disease
that robs its victims of the ability to move and to speak. That Brian has been
clinically precise about his condition even as he has expressed an inspirational
joy in the pleasures of life that he can still enjoy through thought, sight
and sound has given readers a rich insight into what it means to be a civilized
human.
Many shout at Brian when they're in the same
room. In fact, he hears quite well. One of the strangest things about ALS is
how those who are not victims treat those who are. There sits Brian, trapped
within his body, but far more aware than most of us of what is going on in the
world.
Now Brian has decided to retire. But, in an
emeritus position, he will continue to honor us by writing for these pages.
— Robert Whitcomb is editor of The Journal's
editorial pages
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