Ode to Kurt Vonnegut ...

It’s a beautiful Sunday morning. I woke up to go for a mountain bike ride, but remembered that I bought a book by Kurt Vonnegut yesterday, and I suddenly felt compelled to turn on some nice soothing music, make myself coffee and sit in the backyard reading Kurt’s book on this beautiful Sunday morning. What a treat.

I wonder who won the Tour de France this morning. Since we are nine hours behind, they must have passed the Arc de Triomphe some time ago already. While I was deciding not to go bike riding, they must have been passing the finish line. Just as well, no way in hell would I have won this etappe.

Back to my wonderful morning sitting in my backyard reading Kurt’s last novel, biography, science fiction, satire, poetry, and epitaph about the dark side of the world, better known as Homo Sapiens.

Kurt Vonnegut, in memoriam, was a man without a country, just as the title of his last book suggests. A funny and optimistic book, but just as much a sad and pessimistic autobiography about his life, his fears and joys, and his views on America and the people that are, in his eyes, destroying it and the world as a whole. An atheist with more morals and less prejudices than the Pope himself.

Funny, this is the second writer I have stumbled upon in the past couple of weeks who writes very eloquently about topics I relate to so emphatically. The other one is Pierre Bayle, one of the forefathers of my pedigree. My mother’s maiden name is Bayle, although her side of the family ended up putting an accent aigu on the ‘e’ at the end, which I am sure was done to help solve the age-old problem of the correct pronunciation of the name Bayle.

Both Bayle and Vonnegut were men that wrote about tolerance. Tolerance the world, since the 17th century and before, has not known. They wrote about tolerance of religion, the poor, the sick and innocent, instead of the powerful billionaires, politicians, and their cronies. Funny, both men are known as atheists, those of us known as people without a belief in deities, although Bayle never proclaimed himself as one. Funny, in the sense that atheists, at least in the US, are often said to be people who do not have any morals. Here are two world famous writers, although granted that most people will have no idea who Pierre Bayle is (for a refresher see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Bayle), who seemingly were against organized religion, but in their writings always wrote about tolerance and love for people. Funny, that both men died disliking the human race, having been disappointed by their fellow citizens, or better, those who were the most powerful citizens in their time.

How ironic, that I decided to miss my Tour de Pleasanton Ridge on this beautiful Sunday morning to read about the evilness of the Homo Sapiens destroying all we know as living creatures, by destroying our planet Earth. How ironic that I could have been enjoying mother Earth on the ridge, or what is left of it, but instead was enjoying myself reading about Kurt’s misery in knowing that we are destroying it.

Even the Tour de France is being destroyed over time. That, what once was one of the most exciting sport events to watch, has now been destroyed by drugs, doctors and the media, let alone the riders themselves. Evil doing is what human nature is all about. Just look around the world today.

If you don’t believe me, which I can understand, just read Kurt Vonnegut’s last book “A man without a country.” It is short enough that you can finish it, in your backyard, on a beautiful Sunday morning.