Thursday, May 28, 2015

Famous Last Words



Famous last words




                “Kurt Russell."  Those were Walt Disney’s final words.  He scribbled them across a piece of paper.  To this day nobody knows why, not even Kurt Russell.  There is something poetic about leaving a mystery as the last thing you do on earth.  It is the best legacy one could leave I think.  It is, in some sense, a reason for those left behind to continue to search for answers to questions like “Do grasshoppers dream?” I guess we should ask Jiminy Cricket that one.

                “All my possessions for a moment of time.”  These were the last words of Queen Elizabeth I of England.  A person with more wealth than any of us will ever attain would, on her death bed, have traded it all for one extra moment of life.  Another heavy lesson to learn. I am pretty sure that on my death bed I won’t be saying that I wish I had watched more commercials or eaten more Pork Rinds.  

                “Don’t worry.  Relax.”  More famous last words.  These from Rajiv Gandhi, the prime minister of India.  He said these words to his bodyguards as a man bearing flowers approached him; a man who happened to be a suicide bomber.  You’ve gotta stay on your toes people, that’s all I’m saying.  Even when things are running smoothly and there is not a cloud in the sky – pay attention.  Birds still fly and they still need to poop.

                Finally; “Watch this! – Hold my beer.” I’m not sure who this quote is attributed too, but I know damn well it was an American.  That is who we are.  If it feels right…Do it.  Go for it.  Hey, Hey! Get outa my way!  I just got back from the USA!  Don’t Tread on Me!  Hell no, we won’t go!  etc. etc.  We can be impulsive, don’t you think?

                My point is this;

               As I make final preparations for my departure to a land I’ve only heard of, flying in a tin tube weighing 40 tons which itself is soaring through the sky at 700 miles an hour, 30,000 feet above terra firma, and without a parachute, I wonder if I should put some thought into what my last words might be - you know?... just in case.  It will probably be a single word,...

                                                    


Next time I write I will either be hurtling toward a fiery end or in Panama.  Until then,… 



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