Keillor Faces Mortality as 'Nice 67 y.o. Man'

Author Garrison Keillor's stroke leads to realization that it's time for change

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 16, 2009 1:18 PM CDT

(Newser) – Garrison Keillor got “bitten in the butt” by mortality when he suffered a stroke earlier this month, realizing that he is now—as one doctor wrote in her report—a “nice 67 y.o. male,” he writes for Salon. “I never wanted to be a nice 67 y.o. man. I still have some edgy 27 y.o. man inside me.” But more important was his revelation that, “rich or poor, young or old, we all face the injustice of life—it ends too soon.”

“We are all in the same boat, you and me and ex-Gov. Palin and Rep. Joe Wilson, and wealth and social status do not prevail against disease and injury,” he writes. “And now we must reform our health insurance system so that it reflects our common humanity. It is not decent that people avoid seeking help for want of insurance. It is not decent that people go broke trying to get well. You know it and I know it. Time to fix it.”

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

In an April 13, 2007 file photo, Garrison Keillor laughs during a live audience dress rehearsal for "A Prairie Home Companion" at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt, File)

Radio personality Garrison Kiellor poses for a picture in this Oct. 3, 2006 file photo, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)

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Our common humanity is powerful in a hospital. Instead of a nice linen jacket and cool jeans and black T, you are shuffling around in a shabby cotton gown like Granma in Grapes of Wrath.
- Garrison Keillor

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 11 comments

lindamae

Sep 17, 2009 12:36 AM CDT

He's so lucky he lives in the US - not Canada, the UK, France, Spain, or Germany. He'd still be waiting to see a doctor. If anything, he should give thanks that he has the American health care system to use.

Guest

Sep 16, 2009 5:56 AM CDT

Guess I'm more of a "happiness is self-dictated and prescribed, is paid out and perpetuated to and through integrity (as are health issues), this life as defined by our existence on this Earth is uncertain; though we exist forevermore, in a representation of ourselves, determined by God, as we build upon our strengths" ... insurance doesn't insure health, nor does it deliver happiness.

Doctor-Zaius

Sep 16, 2009 4:52 AM CDT

What part of the word "option" don't you understand.

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Keillor Faces Mortality as 'Nice 67 y.o. Man'