For Clendenon, the true miracle of life is scouring the undiscovered corner of the soul, and when all seems lost and life seems to hang by a thread, finding the will to fight back; putting pretenses aside and savoring what is left of life.
Casting aside any pretense of negotiating peace with the Western-supported rebel leadership, Mr. Qaddafi said in the interview that his father's government was negotiating a secret deal with a faction of Islamists among the rebels.
But even after setting aside any pretense of reaching a balanced budget, Mr. Reischauer said, the administration will still propose deep cuts in many programs not directly related to the war or the recession.
A top associate of the Qaddafi government's spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, cast aside any pretense of loyalty when he offered to sell a Western journalist a series of secret tape recordings he had made of his former boss trying to bribe journalists for favorable coverage.
By the time Paris broke into sobs at the end of the service as she expressed how much she loved her father — "I just wanted to say, ever since I was born Daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine" — newscasters cast aside any pretense of covering a news event and joined in the orgy of mourning.
Even so, the extent to which Drudge has put aside any pretense of neutrality in the GOP primary has surprised -- or impressed -- some seasoned conservatives.
These days, all pretense is stripped away.
But she seemed genuinely sweet at the same time, and aside from the pretenses like a kind human being who took a genuine interest in her on-camera friends' lives.
With just two days left for a final barrage of newspaper advertisements, mailings, faxes, telephone calls and face-to-face meetings intended to sway undecided investors, all pretense of civility has been cast aside.
Let's leave aside the kind of pretense that experts actually recommend for those with serious dementia: for instance, the kindness of saying that Dad is on a business trip instead of continually reinforming his widow that he died years ago, causing her grief all over again.
