So it goes.

Kurt Vonnegut has died at the age of 84. So it goes.

An anti-war activist, social prophet, poet, and a truly thoughtful person; a rare soul in today's world. I only recently finished Slaughter-House-Five, but that book affected me more powerfully than anything has for a long time. I'm trying not to be sad, because the man lives on in 84 years of moments and in the numerous books he wrote during his career.

Most importantly, I think we should take this moment to think about his principles and the point of his stories. Rabidly anti-war after witnessing the destruction of the Dresden fire-bombing at the end of WWII, Vonnegut's books questioned things we take for granted in society.

Why do we have to make bombs? Why do we have to make war? Let's think about these things before we dismiss them as inevitabilities of the human existence.

According to CNN.com, "there have been 3,558 coalition deaths...in the war in Iraq as of April 12th, 2007" (CNN Casualties in Iraq). That's at least 3,558 families directly affected by those deaths. So it goes. The number of civilian deaths are unclear, but UN estimates for 2006 alone were equal to a total of 34,452 people (UN Special Report) and the deaths per month are on the rise. Tens of thousands of families directly affected. So it goes.

Please join me in a moment of silence for ALL of these people.

Beyond this moment, let's hope that we can move forward, laugh at whatever adversity comes our way, and allow these deaths to affect our lives. Let's find our humanity. Laughing helps.


"And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes."
Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - 2007), Slaughter-House-Five

"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."
Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - 2007)


So it goes.