So it Goes – Kurt and Charles
November 11 is the birthday of American writer Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007). Like Charles, Vonnegut experienced horrors during World War II. They both suffered from PTSD and depression and used humor to tackle the basic questions of life. Vonnegut served in the U.S. Army and with the 106th Infantry division during the Battle of the Bulge and then later as a Nazi POW in Dresden, Germany where he survived the bombing of the city only because he was housed underground in a former meat locker and slaughterhouse. Vonnegut’s job after the bombing was to gather up and burn the remains of the dead. His experiences marked him for life and resulted in his literary masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five. During the 1980s and ‘90s, Vonnegut acted as a powerful spokesman for the preservation of our Constitutional freedoms, for nuclear arms control, and for the protection of the earth’s fragile biosphere. He then decried the militarization of our country after the terrorist attacks of 2001. Both Kurt Vonnegut and Charles died from traumatic brain injuries after falls in front of their urban residences within two months of each other in 2007. What a tragedy it was to lose these two great men. So it goes.
