Los Angeles
August 9, 2002
My Dear Friends, Colleagues and Fans: My physicians have recently told
me I may have a neurological disorder whose symptoms are consistent with
Alzheimer's disease. So... I wanted to prepare a few words for you now,
because when the time comes, I may not be able to.
I've lived my whole life on the stage and screen before you. I've found
purpose and meaning in your response. For an actor there's no greater
loss than the loss of his audience. I can part the Red Sea, but I can't
part with you, which is why I won't exclude you from this stage in my
life.
For now, I'm not changing anything. I'll insist on work when I can; the
doctors will insist on rest when I must. If you see a little less spring
in my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you'll know why. And
if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway.
I'm neither giving up nor giving in. I believe I'm still the fighter
that Dr. King and JFK and Ronald Reagan knew, but it's a fight I must
someday call a draw. I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal
measure. Please feel no sympathy for me. I don't. I just may be a little
less accessible to you, despite my wishes.
I
also want you to know that I'm grateful beyond measure. My life has been
blessed with good fortune. I'm grateful that I was born in America, that
cradle of freedom and opportunity, where a kid from the Michigan North
woods can work hard and make something of his life. I'm grateful for the
gift of the greatest words ever written, that let me share with you the
infinite scope of the human experience. As an actor, I'm thankful that
I've lived not one life, but many.
Above all, I'm proud of my family... my wife Lydia, the queen of my
heart, my children, Fraser and Holly, and my beloved grandchildren,
Jack, Ridley and Charlie. They're my biggest fans, my toughest critics
and my proudest achievement. Through them, I can touch immortality.
Finally, I'm confident about the future of America. I believe in you. I
know that the future of our country, our culture and our children is in
good hands. I know you will continue to meet adversity with strength and
resilience, as our ancestors did, and come through with flying colors -
the ones on Old Glory.
William Shakespeare, at the end of his career, wrote his farewell
through the words of Prospero, in The Tempest . It ends like
this:
Be cheerful, sir.
Our
revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I
foretold you, were all spirits and
Are
melted into air, into thin air:
And,
like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The
cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The
solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea all
which it inherit, shall dissolve
And,
like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave
not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As
dreams are made on, and our little life
Is
rounded with a sleep.
Thank you, and God bless you, everyone.
Sincerely,
Charlton Heston
© 2002 National Rifle Association