Saturday, June 13, 2015

The Dame Marjorie Chardin Plan

Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon
Dame Marjorie Chardin, (Maude in Harold and Maude) decided to do herself in at 80, and as I get older that seems more and more like a good idea.

Except that I don't know how I will make it to 80.

I keep thinking of Martin Manley a sportswriter who killed himself at 60. Of course I plan to stay in good shape but there's only so much you can do. Life is so hard even when you're young - but at least all throughout my 20s and 30s - even 40s - I kept thinking if I keep going, and keep making self-improvements, keep trying, things will get better. But then you realize that in spite of all that effort, things haven't gotten better and in fact they're only going to get worse - much worse - and what's the point of sticking around to be an increasingly more feeble gargoyle?

Ruth Gordon, who played Maude, died in 1985 at the age of 88.