Mortality

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” – Aristotle

Today I watched Netflix’s “Famous Last Words”. It is basically a documentary about intimate, post-death interviews with notable figures. This episode featured Eric Dane. I had watched the previous episode featuring Jane Goodall. The program is hosted by Brad Falchuk. The episode airs after the person has died. This show is fantastically done. I could rave about it for hours, but we do not have that time. The host asks really pertinent questions. You realize watching……that there are good interviewers and there are great interviewers. Brad Falchuk is a great interviewer. I really did not know much about him before this show. I am not celebrity worshipping.

This episode really touched me. I was debating if to watch it, because I wasn’t in the best frame of mind. Nevertheless, I decided to watch it, and I found it fascinating. I could not take my eyes off the interview subject. Eric Dane was that subject and he was brutally honest. He first came to my attention on Grey’s Anatomy. I was a big fan of that show during the early years. He played the part of Dr. Mark Sloan aka McSteamy. I loved the whole show in general; I did not watch just because of Eric Dane. The characters on that show were just very interesting and entertaining. But Mr. Dane played his part very well.

When I first heard Eric Dane had ALS, it somewhat surprised me. I had not really followed his career but knew him from his role on Grey’s. It occurred to me that we can never really know how our life will unfold. Who could have imagined that many years later, this handsome, seemingly healthy man who appeared to have the world at his feet, would end up with this debilitating disease? But he did – and he touched on that thought during his interview with Brad Falchuk. He spoke about his childhood and his father dying when he was a young boy and the relationship with his grandmother with whom he had a very close relationship. It took me back to my own childhood, when he mentioned that his grandmother played Engelbert Humperdinck’s Quando, Quando on a loop. I know that tune well because it was also a favorite of my dad who has since passed. It took me back to those years when we had a record player and he played that song regularly.

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

James 4:14

Watching this interview, I thought that life is so unpredictable and can take us in directions we never imagined. Then….why do some people act as if they are in charge of everything and know what the future holds? None of us do…. we all hope that we never experience some harsh realities of life, but – we can never truly know. If we do, I think we all aspire to handle it as exceptionally as Eric Dane has. This interview is worth watching.