Thinking...

"While there is a lower class I am in it. While there is a criminal element I am of it. While there is a soul in prison I am not free." Thus begins the novel Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut. This is book with which I am now acquainting myself. I have been a Vonnegut fan for a number of years, and somehow this one has eluded me. The quote is actually from a real person, despite this book's fictional character. Eugene Victor Debs did exist, was a union leader and presidential candidate in the late 1880s. I didn't know that. I had to google it.

I like books that make you think, and Vonnegut was a master satirist. His books are rife with commentary on our society and indeed our humanity. I find them still relevant today, even though most were written decades ago. Even Hocus Pocus, one of his "newer" works, is now over 20 years old.

Thinking is a good thing, and is often overlooked by mainstream society. As I was walking downtown this morning between bus stops on my way to work, I noticed from the marquee of the Century Theatres downtown that one of their current filks is "Jack and Jill". This reminded me again that I like things that make you think. I'm not much of a fan of what I call the "stupid funny" type of movie. You know the one. Where the actor (in this case Adam Sandler) players two characters, and they're not of the same gender. Granted this is just one example; it doesn't HAVE to be like that. But I knew when I first saw a preview of this film that I would never watch it. Just not interested.

I like to think, and the quote at the top reminds us that our society is flawed. It's not generally headed in the right direction, although there still is and likely always will be many good aspects of it. If we all stopped to think, just a little, and wondered what it really meant to be alive, to be here on this planet, to be a part of a society, maybe we could collectively decide on different ways to run it. To run it better. To create some sort of utopia, the likes of which we normally only see in fictional accounts in books or on TV.

Some might say that's crazy talk. Am I crazy? Could be. Maybe all of us are, or maybe all of us should be. Or maybe we're all headed in that direction, in our own special way. One could only hope.