The written word allowed mankind to share knowledge in the present and across time. We can learn from others experience when it is shared in a written or audio format. Storytelling and reciting from memory was how history was passed down through generations for much of human history. The alphabet and written text in its various languages and appearance changed human culture.
Kurt Vonnegut was an exceptional wordsmith, crafter of words both real and of his own creation. To connect any interested readers or writers, in brief, I returned to the bookstore for a copy of Timequake to give to a friend and instead found a book that fills in yet more gaps in the biography, The Brothers Vonnegut, and autobiography/novel Timequake. Armageddon in Retrospect, And Other New and Unpublished Writings on War and Peace, (Berkley Books, 2008, New York), by Kurt Vonnegut, Introduction by Mark Vonnegut (one of his sons who is also a writer) is a collection of unpublished short stories and letters including one that was mentioned in both Timequake and The Brothers Vonnegut.
The letter was published in a newspaper after WWII. It is the initial, oh, you may not have heard yet family, but I’m not dead and no longer Missing In Action, letter to his lived ones. I haven’t read past the letter. Tears in my eyes make it difficult to read – or write. War is bad. We need to be reminded of that everyday until we figure out how to manage life more humanely. I share the hope that humans can do that soon.
Learning to write better may be a goal which reading well written words can help achieve. Learning to live better may be a bonus.
Timequake as a work of fiction isn’t quite and as an autobiography might also leave a few bewildered readers unless they were regular readers of Kurt Vonnegut. Surreal fiction that isn’t quite science fiction but which also isn’t quite based in the real world is a norm for the books I remember besides the book he is best known for. Slaughterhouse Five is novel that describes his experiences in World War II during which he was captured and held as a Prisoner of War. Conditions were intolerable and many other soldiers who were captured died. The experience left Kurt Vonnegut going that peace would be achieved after the war.
Timequake (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1997) is the last novel Kurt Vonnegut wrote and he was in his seventies at the time. In a recent post I discussed a biography that is a history based on a variety of archived material about he and his brother Bernard Vonnegut, a weather/cloud seeding scientist, and other scientists from the era, and interviews from a few surviving family members. https://transcendingsquare.com/2018/03/01/who-owns-science-or-should-all-ideas-be-shared/
The nonfiction book and novel include some of same stories from the family’s history but written in different styles. Both books provide an interesting look into the effort involved in building a successful writing career. While the nonfiction biography/history was written more recently it was helpful to read it first as it provides more detail in consecutive order about Kurt Vonnegut and his family and it helped provide a better understanding of some of the pain and difficulty that may have led to some of the more surreal and cryptic stories that Kurt Vonnegut included in Timequake.
Part of the book includes a storyline that is fiction but which is also somewhat autobiographical because the main character is an author that he considered somewhat of an alter ego. Nice to have a fictions voice to say the things that polite society wouldn’t say or might not want to hear. The storyline is what the title is derived from, all the characters including Kurt Vonnegut are supposedly trapped in a Timequake and they are having to repeat everything they did in the previous ten years over the course of the next ten years. When time unfreezes again people aren’t prepared for a return of free will. The author character tells them:
‘You were sick, but now you’re well again, and there’s work to do,’
The phrase catches on and more people start to repeat it.
The underlying theme is about peace and ending gun violence. It is also about appreciating each other and the little things in life more than television shows. It is about self respect and holding yourself together when it might be difficult. The book is timely and may leave your self respect slightly shredded at points but you may arrive on the other end of the Timequake stronger and ‘there’s work to do,’ so it may be worth the slight shredding. An example:
‘Men are insane. Women are psychotic.’
Having survived being a Prisoner of War and the Allie’s carpet bombing of Dresden may give some license for questioning human nature and the line isn’t flattering to either gender. Six of one, half a dozen of the other – who among us is completely sane at all times?
The title may have to do with an experience mentioned on page 129 that occurred after the Allie’s won WWII but Kurt Vonnegut hadn’t returned home yet. He and another soldier found a Nazi soldier as he lay dying. The soldier asked them to leave him to die and then signaled that he had something else to say. Last words? They listened:
‘I have just wasted the past ten years of my life,’ he said.
Kurt Vonnegut followed the story with a line describing the last words as a Timequake.
The Nazi soldier is dead and far more than ten years were lost in WWII but there is always tomorrow for the rest of us who are still reading and thinking.
‘You were sick, but now you’re well again, and there’s work to do.‘
Disclosure: This information is being shared for the purpose of education or entertainment within the guidelines of Fair Use. Opinions and any errors in the summarized material are my own.
A memorial sculpture park was created after 9/11 by Mario Chiodo to remind us of the words and vision of peace shared by 25 great healers, leaders, writers, artists, activists from around the world. The Henry J. Kaiser Memorial Park is a sculpture park in Oakland, California includes four large works that combine words and images of the 25 leaders with 14 additional local activists including Henry J. Kaiser, founder of Kaiser Institute and Kaiser Permanente, and a fireman is included to represent the workers and others who lost their lives on 9/11/2001. The 25 heroes are also portrayed individually with one of their quotes in two rows of smaller brass sculptures and plaques.
The tragic events of September 11, 2001, compelled Mario Chiodo to create the Remember Them monument. Embedded deep within the foundation is an original steel fragment from the New York World Trade Center. A sculpted replica of the fragment is shown above. It is Mario’s hope to inspire the world to work together to turn tragedy into peace.
Remember Them: Champions for Humanity
The tragic events of September 11, 2001, compelled Mario Chioda to create the Remember Them monument. Embedded deep within its foundation is an original steel fragment from the New York World Trade Center. A sculpted replica of the fragment is shown above. It is Mario’s hope to inspire the world to work together to turn tragedy into peace.
This site is a celebration of 25 healing people – 25 very real people who made real choices in the real world to make the world better and healthier – and the world is better because these 25 people did what they did with their lives. They are all heroes. – George C. Halvorson, Kaiser Permanente Chairman & CEO 2002-2013
Kaiser Permanente
City of Oakland – Honoring diversity and humanity since 1852.
Heroes on this monument are the children of yesterday and we honor them. You might be the hero of tomorrow. How can you give of yourself to deliver peace, understanding, hope, and forgiveness to improve our global community? Are you the girl, boy, man, or woman who will change the course of our future? – Bernard J. Tyson, Kaiser Permanente Chairman and CEO, 2013-
In every human being there is the spark of God . . . Realizing and practicing this belief is an essential foundation, the role that every one of us has in dealing with each other. – Henry J. Kaiser, 1882-1967, Chairman of Kaiser Industries and Founder of Kaiser Permanente
Henry J. Kaiser
The concept of medical care as a right is an excellent principle that both the public and the medical world have now accepted. – Sidney R. Garfield, MD, 1906-1954, Founding Physician, Kaiser Permanente
The Path to Peace.
Every act of love is a work of peace, no matter how small. – Mother Teresa
More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars. – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be a at peace unless he has freedom. – Malcolm X
Humankind will not recover from its mistakes without global education. – Rigoberta Menchu
Hope will never be silent. – Harvey Milk
Only equals make friends. – Maya Angelou
If we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices. – Elie Wiesel
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. – Nelson Mandela
Treat all men alike. Give them a chance to live and grow. – Chief Joseph
When any person suffers for someone in greater need that person is a human. – Cesar Chavez
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi
I believe there is only one race – the human race. – Rosa Parks
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Knowledge is love and light and vision. – Helen Keller
Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. – Abraham Lincoln
Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated. – Coretta Scott King
To work for peace is to be peace in every breath, every step, and every action. – Thich Nhat Hanh
The true republic: Men, their rights and nothing more; Women, their rights and nothing less. – Susan B. Anthony
Let us keep love in our hearts but fight until the walls of segregation crumble. – Ralph David Abernathy
Contrary to what certain governments say, human rights are universal. – Shirin Ebadi
We all dream of freedom in the same way. – Wei Jing Sheng
Each and every one of us is born with a clean heart . . . we know nothing about hate or racism. – Ruby Bridges
Never, never, never give up. – Winston Churchill
The soul that is within me no man can degrade. – Frederick Douglass
I am the conscience of all those who knew something – but did nothing. – Oskar Schindler
Remember Them – by Mario Chiodo
Remember Them – by Mario Chiodo
Remember them when you walk with freedom.
Remember them when you think of liberty.
Remember them when your children get on the school bus.
Remember them while you sleep without fear.
Remember them when you are hungry or lonely.
Remember them when you thirst for knowledge.
Remember them when you cannot see the light or hear the birds sing.
Remember them when you are lost and need hope.
Remember them when others say “You cannot . . .”
Remember them when you know you can.
Remember them when it is difficult to see the good.
Remember them when those less fortunate come your way.
Remember them when someone is unkind.
Remember them – forgive and be compassionate.
Remember them when you see injustices.
Remember them and know your voice can be heard.
Remember them and stand up for what is right.
Remember them and know that we are all equal.
Remember them and know that our children become what they see.
Remember them and know that your actions determine history.
Remember them and know that obstacles are opportunities.
Remember them and know the greatest success often comes from failure.
Remember them and know you have so much to give.
Remember them and walk the path of peace.
Remember them and never give up.
Remember them and reach for the stars.
Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.
