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C00002 00002	Margaret Young was an unusual person in her independence
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Margaret Young was an unusual person in her independence
and her determination to live her life her own way.

She didn't live for others; she live for herself, and
her example is increasingly important to the rest of us
as our society gets richer.  More and more, the external
circumstances of our lives run smoothly, and what troubles
we have are of our own making and often in our own imagination.
It often seems that as soon as our external problems are
resolved, internal problems appear that prevent us from
enjoying life.  Margaret resolved these problems early or
else they didn't arise for her.

	She went her own way, and although she didn't go much
out of her way for others, she was kind hearted when the occasion
arose.

	One might have supposed that someone who encountered so
little misfortune in her life, would be devastated when misfortune
came in large doses.  First came her accident that made mountain
climbing impossible for her.  She adjusted her life to the restrictions
imposed by her paraplegia, and even when she was in the Stryker frame,
she was still the same Margaret.  When her second misfortune, the
cancer struck her, she was again the same objective person.  I won't
say she never complained, but it was always about something specific,
never about life in general, and complaint never seemed to dominate
her thoughts, something that few can claim so well.

	Recently, when she could scarcely talk, I offered to read to
her, and she chose a thick tome on cancer.  The chapter she had reached
didn't concern her own kind of cancer, but since cancer was part of
her life, she wanted to know all about it - perhaps more out of
curiosity than for any other motive.