Friday, August 30, 2019

KURT VONNEGUT INTERVIEWED BY CHARLIE ROSE

Kurt Vonnegut was interviewed by Charlie Rose, probably near the end of his life. The interview was kind of sad, also poignant. Especially poignant was the moment, near the end of the aired interview, where Vonnegut pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket (I'm crying as I remember this moment) and after introducing it started reading it. It was some famous words of Jesus, maybe the beatitudes (Matt 6). And after he read them, Vonnegut commented on them. Maybe he said something like, "if only all those who call themselves by Jesus' name would really follow these words."
To me, that dramatic moment by Vonnegut was a plea on his part after he felt he and others have tried to encourage "goodness" and kindness in people and seen their efforts fail. Long after I saw that interview (it still lingers in my mind.) I read some of a biography of Vonnegut and learned that he was raised in a "free thinker" branch of Christianity and maybe had not even studied Christianity very much.