Attribution: NBC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in acknowledging that Bill Shatner–or Captain Kirk to everyone, who happens to have been born the same year as the keeper, recently elicited misplaced fan despair by noting that he did not have long to live.
Shatner, who has apparent good health, explained that at 91 years of age, check out time could be right this minute or 10 years from now, and there isn’t anything you can do about it except to enjoy each day and maybe try to leave something behind that people might remember longer than they remember you because that will not be very long.
Shatner had reference to a bio film he recently produced and which he noted may contain elements that might outlast him in the ever-evolving public memory bank.
It is some comfort to the keeper that Shatner is six months older than he is, which makes little statistical difference; and it is a fact that the keeper’s book “Treeson: an APOLOGIA to Trees,” fits with Shatner’s effort to leave something behind that might be remembered beyond the life of the individual.
People are likely to remember “Treeson’s” account of Ed Gein encounters or the author’s devastating stomach cramps in the Statue of Liberty longer than they remember the author.
On March 22, Shatner will be 92. Happy birthday, Bill!
