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Kurt Vonnegut died of old age yesterday, avoiding the suicide trap that many of our free-thinking, imaginative, iconocastic, anti-utopian, anti-religion, anti-orthodoxy and wonderfully-hypercritical of the (predestined?) paths the human race is racing along, do take as the final answer to aging.

KV lived through the firebombing of Dresden (he was captured by the Germans early in the Battle of the Bulge, and was a POW in Dresden, tucked away in a meatlocker labeled 'Slaughterhouse-Five'; subsequently one of his best novels (1969). I enjoyed that, and a few others, but haven't spent much time reading his recent stuff.

Here's a good one...in "Cat's Cradle" (1963) Kurt invents a new religion, Bokononism, which looks strangely familiar...

It is based on living by the untruths that make one happy...

"All of the true things that I am about to tell you are shameless lies."

"The foundation of Bokonism is that the religion, including its texts, is formed entirely of lies; however, if you believe and adhere to these lies, you will live a happy life."

Go sort that one out for yourself.

Kurt Vonnegut left us with some excellent quotes (I've used a twisted version of one of my favorites, in my headliner, upstairs). Other good ones...

"I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center."

Kurt possibly shared my revulsion towards the Boob Tube...

"One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us."

OK, so we did come here and take North America, as Sea Pirates. But, we wouldn't have this...whatever we have...without having done so, now would we?

"1492. As children we were taught to memorize this year with pride and joy as the year people began living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America. Actually, people had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America for hundreds of years before that. 1492 was simply the year sea pirates began to rob, cheat, and kill them."

There's not a truer statement found, anywhere, more apropos, than this simple sentence...

"Here's what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey."

Ahhh, yes, here's the original version. Without the twist, unshaken and unstirred...

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be."

If you haven't managed to read much Vonnegut, go forth and find a few.

Beware, however; he will skewer and probe and probably wind up hurting your feelings, if you let him.

And, he hates semicolons...

;D

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