Lessons from Hunter S. Thompson

One of my great regrets in life is that I never met Hunter S. Thompson.

I came close to meeting him. Once when I was in Tempe, AZ. planning a rafting trip down the Colorado River I ran into a girl who didn't know who he was.

'He said he was an author and he gave me this autographed book,' she said, handing me a copy of 'Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.' I asked her where he was and she said he had taken the raft just 10 minutes before me.

I read 'Feat And Loathing in Las Vegas' back in the 1970s and laughed...and laughed...and laughed. I even showed the book to my daughter, Rossana, who read it but didn't quite know what was so funny about it.

Thompson was born in Kentucky on July 18, 1937 and died on Feb. 20, 2005 at age 68. The literary world described him as an author and gonzo journalist, whatever that means. I thought he was a satirist and truth-seeker who wrote about his experiences like Jack Kerouac, author of 'Oh The Road' and who happened to be one of Thompson's childhood heroes.

He was not only a writer, he was a gambler. He spent a lot of his time in Las Vegas betting on horses, basketball games, football games, and poker.

Thompson's best-selling books included 'Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, a Journey to the Heart of the American Dream;' 'Fear And Loathing on the Campaign Trail,' a book that focused on the election of Richard Nixon; 'The Proud Highway;' 'Better Than Sex;' 'The Rum Diary;' 'Hell's Angels;' and 'Fear And Loathing in America.'

He was tall, balding, once ran for sheriff in Colorado, and smoked filter-tipped cigarettes and marijuana.

I found much in common with Hunter Thompson. Like me, he traveled, he lived, he gambled, and he wrote.

As I read his books, I could see a part of myself in many things he wrote about. His Las Vegas experiences. Meeting and traveling with Richard Nixon who I had met and interviewed before the 1972 election. And even his 'Rum Diary' experiences in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

His book illustrator was a professional artist named Ralph Steadman. Hunter could not have chosen a better artist to illustrate his work.

Thompson left a lot of lessons for the world to chew on. Here are just a few quotes from his writings:

'The trouble with Nixon is that he's a serious politics junkie. He's totally hooked and like any other junkie, he's a bummer to have around.'

'Justice is expensive in America. There are no free passes. You might want to remember this the next time you get careless and blow off a few parking tickets. They will come back to haunt you the next time you see a cop car in your rear-view mirror.'

'Nixon was a crook, of course. But he was also a rabid football fan and he knew the game, which still astounds me. But I have always had a soft spot for him in my heart because of it.'

'There are many harsh lessons to be learned from the gambling experience, but the harshest one of all is the difference between having fun and being smart.'

'All gamblers lose regularly but they rarely discuss it in public. Losing is bad for the image, Dude. Nobody buys hot tips from losers. Remember that.'

'Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy tale artist.'

'The writer must be a participant in the scene. Like a film director who writes his own scripts, does his own camera work, and somehow manages to film himself in action as the protagonist or at least the main character.'

'Nixon was a bad loser. He hated losing worse than death and that is why I enjoyed him. We were both football fans, both addicts, and on some days, nothing else mattered.'

'There is no fool like a careless gambler who starts taking victory for granted.'

'I have a soft spot in my heart for Ronald Reagan, if only because he was a sportswriter in his youth.'

'Weird behavior is natural in smart children, like curiosity is to a kitten.'

'Walk tall, kick ass, learn to speak Arabic, love music, and never forget you come from a long line of truth seekers, lovers, and warriors.'