Month Number 2

Thanks for the few readers, writers, and comments that we have gotten over the first month of existence!

Today is the start of November and I want to talk a bit about what November means to me.

There are a few family things, my mother's birthday for one, and of course Thanksgiving, but that is not all.  For those that have known me for awhile you will know that my favorite writer in the late Kurt Vonnegut.  I have read everything that I could possibly find of his and will continue to search and hope for more.  And for anyone that has read much Vonnegut, you know that his writings are personable as well as very personal.  We readers of him know many facts about his life.  We feel like we knew him.  That sad April night in 2007 was hard for many of us...the news broke to me in a text message from a friend reading something along the lines of "I am sorry...about Kurt".  Just reading that...I knew he was gone along with all hopes for a new piece of fiction and the chance to shake his hand once in my life.

The reason that I think of him here in November is because his birthday is the 11th of this month.  On his birthday I celebrate a personal tradition of buying a pack of unfiltered Pall Malls and enjoying each one, trying to get slightly closer to his life in some way.

As I sit here, I realize that I am looking back, which reminds me that this writing must be a failure because it was written by a pillar of salt.  If you do not understand what that means, you have not read enough of KV.

The first thing that I read of Kurt's was Slaughterhouse-Five.  Some of my friends had read it and told me that I would love it.  I  knew about Kurt, but had never gotten around to reading him.  Finally one of my dear friends forced the book on me.  I read it all in just a couple of hours.  From the first moment that I read the opening title page I knew that I would love this book.  I had never read something so silly and honest at the same time, which if you know me, then you know that is my style 100%.

After that I reread the book.  Then I went out to one of my local used book stores and picked up another book, this one was Breakfast of Champions.  I was again blown away with humor and all the time realizing my values.  Someone once asked me before this if I was a humanist, based on a conversation of personal philosophies.  At the time I had answered no.  Through Vonnegut I realized that I was and that my understanding of what a humanist is was greatly misinformed.  Vonnegut had a way of making anyone understand.  I now had quotes and reasons to sum up all of my ideas.  I guess what he gave me was validation.  I was not alone and I was not crazy.  This opened up all new doors of thought and reason for me, and Kurt did it all with a smile and a joke, even in the most horrible of times.

I always think of when he wrote about himself in the underground meat locker.  They listened to bombs dropping and nothing but Hell above them.  Someone made a small joke and no one laughed, but he wrote that they were all happy that he said it.

Since that time, I veraciously bought every book and read it very quickly.  I buy used copies are book stores to give away to people or leave around on bookshelves, hoping that some person will see it and become curious.  I know I have gotten a few people into him, but who knows how many overall...

Kurt was the Honorary President of the AHA.  After his death, the position was given to the brilliant Gore Vidal.  As much as I respect that decision, there is a major difference there.  Reading some of the recent interviews with Gore, he seems to have become very bitter in the world.  He has lost hope in our society.  That is something that I do not believe Kurt would have ever done.  One of his sons wrote after his death that his father was an eternal optimist striving to be a pessimist, wanting to be depressed but having far too much hope for that.  I believe that about him.

I guess I am just talking about him and for those that read this and know nothing about him, I am probably boring you, but it is my blog so if I want to write a long article about my hero and his affect on me, I will.  That is the beauty of this medium.

I guess the reason this is on my mind so much more is that I relate to that attitude so much.  I am known as a rather happy person.  I consider myself a realist, but I am considered by most as an optimist.  I would say that I am a cautious optimist at best, but more like a hopeful realist.  I see hope everywhere and reasons to be happy.  Kurt assisted me with that and I miss a voice like that in our world.

There are a few great voids  in the world today.  They are all heroes of mine, and we need them:

Kurt Vonnegut - We need guidance, we need a voice for the public to help them understand what we are all about and why we should be loving one another.
Carl Sagan - He was the voice of science to the public and since his death we have no one of his clarity, reason, or visions out there that can command a crowd as he did.  The "Pale Blue Dot" speech is one of the greatest things ever written.  I think that his loss is one of the only reasons we have such a misunderstanding of science in our current society.
Jim Henson - I cried as a boy when Jim died.  I still weep from time to time when I think of my son growing up in a world where adults, the ones that create children programming, seem to have nothing but contempt for their audience.  Jim treated kids with a beauty and an art, with a general respect for their ability and intelligence that has not been matched.

For people that are unaware, humanism is not a bad thing.  In fact, there is a good chance that you are one and do not even know it.  Whether sacred or secular humanism, learn about what it means.  Kurt once stated that he would vote for the first person that ran under the banner of the beatitudes, but none of them do.  That is one of the best ways to think of what we stand for.  The beatitudes.

I also often quote the idea that if Jesus Christ had walked the Earth, and if he actually said the wonderful things that he said, then what would it matter if he was the son of God or not?  I quoted that to a Christian friend of mine and she agreed.  I like that.

Now I shall let you all go your separate ways.  Feel free to contact me with the "Contact Us" link at the bottom if you want to know more about him or his writings, or humanism in general.

Also, if anyone can find out where he is buried, please share.  I want to start a tradition not unlike the "Poe Toaster".  I would leave notes with reason and quotes on his grave along with a shot of something that would make my breath smell like "mustard gas and roses".