The following is the transcript of a BBC interview ith Billy Connolly. His comment on accepting the additions and subtractions that take place are perceptive and instructive. My view is that this reflects a foundational precept for all humans:
RIGHT NOW, THIS IS THE WAY IT IS. LET IT GO!!
The Interview Report
Scottish comedian Sir Billy Connolly has admitted he is “near the end” and his life is “slipping away”, as he spoke about his fight with Parkinson’s disease.
Speaking on the BBC documentary series Made In Scotland, Connolly said he is not scared of death.
“My life, it’s slipping away and I can feel it and I should. I’m 75, I’m near the end. I’m a damn sight nearer the end than I am the beginning. But it doesn’t frighten me, it’s an adventure and it is quite interesting to see myself slipping away,” he said.
“As bits slip off and leave me, talents leave and attributes leave. I don’t have the balance I used to have, I don’t have the energy I used to have. I can’t hear the way I used to hear, I can’t see as good as I used to. I can’t remember the way I used to remember.
“As bits slip off and leave me, talents leave and attributes leave. I don’t have the balance I used to have, I don’t have the energy I used to have. I can’t hear the way I used to hear, I can’t see as good as I used to. I can’t remember the way I used to remember.
“And they all came one at a time and they just slipped away, thank you. It is like somebody is in charge of you and they are saying, ‘Right, I added all these bits when you were a youth, now it is time to subtract’.”
Connolly was diagnosed with Parkinson’s – a neurological condition that impacts movement and speech – while undergoing surgery for early-stage prostate cancer in 2013.
At one point during the two-part documentary, set to conclude in the UK on Friday, Connolly reportedly asks for filming to stop as he appears to be struggling with the effects of the disease.
Speaking about Parkinson’s, he said: “It takes a certain calm to deal with, and I sometimes don’t have it. I sometimes get angry with it, but that doesn’t last long, I just collapse in laughter.”
AP, with staff writers
