Hey Mr. Wilson

For some time now, say a month or two, I've been thinking of writing a post about Walter Mathau. I wanted to talk about the day he died, and it occurred to me that I should write my post on the anniversary of his death. It just seemed fitting.
So today I decided to look up what that day actually was. And curiously enough it was actually today (July 1st, 2000) that he died. It gave me a weird deja-vu kind of feeling when I read that on the page. Anyway, here's my two cents at last:

When I was a kid I really liked that Dennis the Menace movie. The chickletts in the dentures, the rare blooming flower, the creepy bum eating beans under the bridge (for the record, I once cooked beans on the stove while they were still in the can, then ate them straight from the can with a fork). It was a movie that was on the level with Drop Dead Fred and Problem Child when I was a youngster.

Mathau played Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace, the grumpy old man (no pun intended) that lived next door. I can honestly say it's been years and years since I watched that movie last.

But the death of Mathau taught me a lesson in life. Growing up, I always figured the world would completely stop for a moment when he died. But nothing happened. I heard of his passing on the news as a flash, then the anchor was onto the next story. It baffled me, but it seemed that noone really cared. The world kept turning; it didn't slow down at all.

So I suppose you could say that July 1st, 2000 was the day my childhood officially died. (Granted, it was a wheezing, hacking mess at the time. I think its kidneys were failing and it had some sort of liver disease as well.) Regardless, that was the end. I learned that the world won't stop for anything, or anyone. No matter how great you are, or how many people you've influenced.

But I guess that goes to show that we ought to do the most we can in life. That way, when we die, at least the world will stop for a split second in the minds of the people we knew.