The man who won a losing battle

Silvia Fesquet

08/07/2021 17:55

• Clarín.com

• Culture

Updated 08/07/2021 17:58

He had big plans for his retirement.

So much so that he sped up the moment of doing it, eager to get them going.

At 54, he decided that the 31 years that he had dedicated to law were enough and it was time to unbalance the rhythm and dedicate himself to his passions: writing and volunteering.

A student at Columbia, his initial idea had been Literature, although he finally decided on Law. Now the revenge would come. Life, however, had other plans for Neil Selinger. Shortly after leaving his job, he was diagnosed with

ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

, a progressive disease of the nervous system that causes loss of muscle control, there is no cure and here they suffered from Fontanarrosa, Piglia and now Esteban Bullrich.

Unable to choose what happens to us, at least in large part, we can decide what to do with it.

And Selinger knew it: while his body was deteriorating irretrievably, he began to write.

The result was

"A Sloan product: a memoir of a lost boy"

, in which he recreates the experience of growing up in an immigrant family in the heart of New Jersey, owner of a paper and toy wholesale business.

Upon retirement, Selinger had enrolled in the Sarah Lawrence University Writing Institute.

Meanwhile,

the disease progressed

: he lost his speech, from the cane he went to the walker and then to the wheelchair, until he was almost completely immobilized.

He had the pleasure of presenting his book and shortly before he died he wrote: “As my muscles weaken,

my writing becomes stronger

.

As I lose the ability to speak, I

gain my voice

.

As I shrink,

I grow

.

As I lose so much, I finally start to

find

myself

. "

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