Death Becomes Him
Art Buchwald chooses to die with dignity instead of sticking it out with plastic tubing:
Art Buchwald is living dying to the fullest.Weeks after he was expected to die from his decision to forgo dialysis, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist is holding court in a hospice salon to a procession of family, friends and acquaintances.
It's a kind of "group therapy," he says, but one they seem to need more than he does.
"It's a funny thing," he says of these final days, "but it's a good life."
Buchwald has found funny things everywhere in his 80 years; now the political satirist is getting the same charge out of his drawn-out ending.
Buchwald says he's not afraid of death, isn't depressed and is, in fact, having the time of his life. He spends his days writing columns from his room at the hospice as well as reminiscing with visitors.
"It's a great way to say goodbye," Buchwald said in an interview.
"They sit here and we have group therapy," he said. "We talk about everything."
The French ambassador brought a medal from his country; Buchwald wrote his first columns from Paris, about nightlife in the City of Light. The Marine Corps commandant also visited; Buchwald was a Marine during World War II, dropping out of high school at age 17 and joining the corps underaged. He get visits several times a day from his three children and his grandchildren; his wife, Ann, died in 1994.
"I'm going out the way very few people do," Buchwald said.
Vascular problems led doctors to amputate his right leg below the knee in January. Buchwald said losing it was "very traumatic" and that it probably influenced the decision to reject dialysis for his kidney failure. That would have meant being hooked up to a machine three times a week, five hours each time, he said.
"I just decided 'To hell with it,' " said Buchwald, seemingly at peace with his imminent fate. "I haven't been afraid to die. I'd had a wonderful life. I'm 80 years old, so I'm not afraid."
Thanks for reminding me, Snakeman!
It's mean to say nasty things about people when they've just died. So let's take this opportunity to say them while someone is still dying.
> Buchwald has found funny things
> everywhere in his 80 years
I think it was Spy Magazine in 1990 that finally found the words for a nagging suspicion that had haunted so many of us for so long: Art Buchwald never, ever said anything that was laugh-out-loud funny. We would have put it in a sentence ourselves if we'd given it thought, but we never found the time.
Of course, I've never said anything funny either. But Buchwald, like the Capital Steps troupe with which he was so often mentioned in those days, was renowned as a jokester in the center of the world's biggest, most powerful government. And the honor was hollow, because government people are not funny.
Ever. And there are no exceptions. (The last government comic to ever earn my smile was Al Gore, and that was many, many years ago. He probably regrets it now.)
Nothin' against the guy, but Richard Pryor's grave is still warm... Let's not mock the form merely to comfort a work-a-day functionary.
Crid at April 6, 2006 4:25 PM
Oh yeah...I remember that. I never read any Art Buchwald...perhaps because I didn't find him funny. I do think he dies well, though.
Amy Alkon at April 6, 2006 4:36 PM
Is he going to sue Eddie Murphy for doing the same with his career?
Jim Treacher at April 6, 2006 8:39 PM
Treach -
Best. Post. Ever.
Snake
snakeman99 at April 7, 2006 12:40 PM
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