My friend Duncan had a phrase that he would sometimes repeat:
“Life is basically good.”
And over the years it was one of those things that became a catch phrase between us. “Life is basically good.” . . It might sound a little trite and mundane to some of you. But it had a certain amount of weight and profundity to Duncan, philosophically and existentially. You might call it, hard-fought wisdom.
Duncan was a person who went through some incredible hardships during the course of his life. Experienced some losses and suffering that might have soured another person. And I’ve seen plenty of people who did get soured on life at that juncture. Concluded: “Fuck it. This life just sucks. The hell with it.”
But Duncan, when he was weighing that balance in his mind, concluded: “In spite of it all, in spite all of the shit, this life is all right. Life is basically a good thing.”
Duncan was a soul survivor.
Acid Heroes 