Kirk Douglas as Spartacus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIf I was his son, and let’s be frank here, Michael Douglas is 75 and he could follow his father into the Hollywood Forever Cemetery any minute now, I would be devastated.<\/p>\n
Why didn’t he tell me how wonderful I am in movies?<\/p>\n
Why didn’t he say he just say he loved me?<\/p>\n
I’m thinking it was a misunderstanding. It’s more likely that Kirk Douglas, in his weakened condition, thought someone had asked him who should deliver his eulogy and he gave the obvious answer, his famous son, Michael.<\/p>\n
“Mike can get it done.”<\/p>\n
Or maybe that’s not at all what he said. I interviewed Kirk Douglas a few years after his stroke. He was very kind and gracious but his speech was severely affected and he was hard to understand.<\/p>\n
He may have just said, “I’d like a cookie, please.”<\/p>\n
Anyway, this got me thinking about my final words. If I could plan ahead to say something memorable, something adorable, pithy, brief and quotable on my death bed, what would it be?<\/p>\n
You know me. I’d want to do something funny like bolt upright in wide-eyed amazement and say something that seemed to come to me in a blinding flash of revelation: “Death! Yes but no! There is no death! I get it now, the true meaning of life is…………..!”<\/p>\n
And then I’d plop back into my pillow, eyes closed, never to open again.<\/p>\n
The reality is I’d probably just tell whoever was near me how much I love my family, how I’ve lived a life filled with love and laughter. I’d just say I’m happy.<\/p>\n
That would be nice.<\/p>\n
You know what would really be a pisser, though?<\/p>\n
What if you thought of exactly the right words and practiced until you were able to express them with the skill of a classical Shakespearean actor, the perfect words uttered in perfect understated sincerity (I’d try to channel Peter O’Toole). Then you smile wistfully, a blessed child about to return home; a small tear would trickle down one cheek.<\/p>\n
Your family would sigh and sniff; a muffled sob, hugs all around.<\/p>\n
They’d take turns squeezing your hand and kissing your forehead.<\/p>\n
Then twenty minutes later you wake up and realize, “Shit. Now I have to think of something else to say.”<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2020, Dave Williams<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Dave Williams Have you ever stopped to think about what you want your final words to be? Neither have I but I’m thinking about it now. I was surprised to learn this morning that Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York currently running for president, was apparently the final thought that crossed Kirk … Continue reading “The Last Words of Spartacus”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[495,439,1],"tags":[496,498,497],"class_list":["post-2860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kirk-douglas","category-news","category-uncategorized","tag-kirk-douglas","tag-michael-bloomberg","tag-michael-douglas"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Last Words of Spartacus : The Aging of Aquarius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you ever thought about what your final words in life should be? 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