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Mourning the loss of one of my favorite people...

2007-04-12

Good morning Boys and Girls.

Today I mourn the loss of Kurt Vonnegut.

I loved the man. As a human being, he was national treasure; a thoughtful, caring and deeply insightful individual who, for many decades, cleverly and continuously skewered the foibles of the society in which he lived for 84 years - till yesterday.

His "pessimistic" public persona, which he cultivated in his writings, to me, was nothing more than a tweaked extension of his personal hope and worry for the world.

He was a realist, to be sure. He knew in his heart as every thinking person I knows does, that without change, this world, at least as we know it, is not long for the universe. Christian leaders, especially those who seem to be awaiting Armageddon with lust, castigated his writings with the very sort of venom he warned against, usually in his patented innocuous and simple prose.

Over his five decade career he wrote about factories and the mechanization of our world, the explosion of technology and it's affects on civil society, space travel, religion, poverty, the dangers of hypocrisy - especially in the powerful, mental illness, and love.

He loved a lot; heart achingly so.

I was once privy to a long personal letter he wrote to the father of a friend of mine in which he talked at length about his worry over his son Mark as he worked through a period of mental illness, which Mark later wrote about himself; and eloquently so.

Been expecting his death for a few years now, but I still feel a real sense of loss. Though I don't share his talent, didn't know him in the least, I've usually felt like he was a kindred spirit; one who thought thoughts and spoke words I wish I had the brains, creativity and heart to think and say.

I'll miss him a lot.

So it goes.


Be good to everyone.

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The Brit (2007-04-12)
Kurt Vonnegut was one of my favorite authors. i loved the way he made you think about the woes of this society and want to do something about it. it's sad we've lost such a great man.

Doe (2007-04-12)
I have to disagree. I think he sounds A LOT like you :) I just read a short bio on him and one of his old articles. Yep, it reminded me of you.

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