Lease on Life

Chatting with newsmen in his Portland dining room one day last week, Oregon's Democratic Senator Richard Neuberger, once known in senatorial halls for his partisan wrangling and headline catching, quietly mused about some new changes in his life:

"We're all flesh," said Dick Neuberger, "be it Republican or Democrat, rich banker or poorly paid college professor. I think now it would be almost impossible to get angry at someone over a political issue. And it doesn't make any difference any more if my wife squeezes toothpaste from the top or the bottom, if the biscuits are burned, or if the living room is cluttered. It isn't true, as you might believe by listening to the speeches and excitement of political conventions, that one party has all the answers and that members of the other party all should be swinging by their tails. I never could again be bitter."

Then Dick Neuberger, who for five months had been under surgical and cobalt radiation treatment for cancer, prepared to resume Senate duties in Washington. Senator Neuberger, 46, had a new, sober cause in his life--legislation for medical research. "No one really grows up," explained he, "until he realizes he has to die."

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