And So It Goes

Well, as I've mentioned before, Kurt Vonnegut is one of my favorite writers ever. And now he has passed on to whatever comes next.

He wasn't sure, and so I'm not going to put him in Heaven/Hell, The Summerlands, The Next Life, A Happy Place or whatever else just to suit myself.

I think that as a humanist, he was one of the best examples, ever. period. Gentle, irreverent, insightful, and always humorous. That was his approach when speaking of the important issues surrounding religion, spirituality and belief. Oh, if more people could be like he was in this regard. My goodness, what a difference that would make.

I don't think he set out to be a good example, but he was anyways, like it or not. From his life experiences came a deep understanding of humankind's inhumanity to humankind.

His most fervent wish, which came up over and over again in his writing was that we should just be kind to each other. How hard is that anyways?! Sheesh. Pretty darn hard, judging by the way the world seems to be going these days.

To end, I'll share the quote I read to my family this morning.

It is from "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater":

"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth.

It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

It's round and wet and crowded.

At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here.

There's only one rule that I know of, babies - 'God damn it, you've got to be kind."