Kurt Vonnegut has died.
Kurt Vonnegut was the man who got me started reading science fiction. One year at camp we had a counselor who would read us stories from Welcome to the Monkey House. I was hooked. I think the first was “Report on the Barnhouse Effect.”. I think many were quite prophetic: look at the story of Harrison Bergernon and the political correctness of today. Then, of course, there was the humor from the title story:
I did not sow, I did not spin
and thanks to pills, I did not sin.
I loved the crowds, the stink, the noise
And when I peed, I peed turquoise.
So thank you, Mr. Vonnegut, for your delicious words over the years, and your wonderful advice, as expressed by the title character in 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.’ ”