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Culture » March 24, 2003

Dear Mr. Vonnegut,

By Kurt Vonnegut

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What on earth happened to American journalists so that they let fanatics toy with them?
Andrés Hoyos, Bogota, Colombia

 Dear Andrés,
They became rich and famous.
Kurt

*****

What words of hope and encouragement do you offer your daughter that other parents might borrow?
Sharon Tiplady
Palmer, Alaska

 Dear Sharon,
“Know that I will always adore you, dear Lily, and please look both ways before crossing a street.”
Kurt

*****

I’d love to know your thoughts for a woman of 43 who is finally ready to have children but is wary of bringing new lives into such a frightening world.
Elizabeth Gratch
Ypsilanti, Michigan

 Dear Elizabeth,
Don’t do it! It could be another George W. Bush or Lucrezia Borgia.

The kid would be lucky to be born into a society where even the poor people are overweight, but unlucky to be in one without a national health plan or decent public education for most, where lethal injection and warfare are forms of entertainment, and where it costs an arm and a leg to go to college. This would not be the case if the kid were a Canuck or Swede or Limey or Frog or Kraut. So either go on practicing safe sex or emigrate.
Kurt

*****

Does the act of writing or painting somehow balance out or put off the monstrous acts staining our collective history?
Rick Stoeckel
Chicago

 Dear Rick,
You betcha! Same way a hot fudge sundae cures the clap! Kurt

*****

I am a 19-year-old Harvard University freshman, and I hope you take the time to respond to this message because I know it speaks to a large bracket of the silent youth in our country.

Amidst the jaded, tough-guy rhetoric of our country’s leadership, I am constantly reminded that I am an important part of “the future of America.” But I don’t want to be part of the America that the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz axis is leading us toward. How can more war lead to more peace? How can arrogance and active ignorance make friends?

As a young person, I love the fact that my future is wide open and uncharted. But adults often say that idealism is for dreamers. I refuse to accept this, but in a country run by people who think “idealism” is synonymous with “radicalism,” I often wonder: Is there realism in idealism?

Young people today have no spiritual leader like Martin Luther King Jr. to revere. We have tuned out because America’s leadership has tuned us out. Politicians don’t speak to us or to our issues, and yet we are the ones who will inherit the world they leave us with. Where can we find hope? I know it’s there, but where has the idealism gone?

So it goes.
Seamus McKiernan
Cambridge, Massachusetts

 Dear Seamus,
Thank goodness you’re not at Yale, which is completely walled off, along with Skull and Bones, from the working stiffs. It so happens that idealism enough for anyone is not made of perfumed pink clouds. It is the law! It is the U.S. Constitution.
Kurt

Got a question for Mr. Vonnegut? Write to vonnegut@inthesetimes.com.
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Kurt Vonnegut is a legendary author, WWII veteran, humanist, artist, smoker and In These Times senior editor. His classic works include Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle, among many others. His most recent book, A Man Without a Country, collects many of the articles written for this magazine.

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  • Reader Comments

    Aww schucks! I must have been too late.
    So it goes.

    Posted by Kevin Hatton on Mar 24, 2003 at 11:03 PM

    Dear Kurt, thanx for the column.
    when do you think that yanks will accurately recall that you entered both world wars when they were fait accompli ?  i love you guys, especially Mike Moore, but don’tcha recollect that we thumped you in 1812, and those little guys in black PJs handed you yer nuts in ‘75 ?
    What is it with yanks and power and control ?

    Posted by Richard on Mar 25, 2003 at 5:35 AM

    Mr Vonnegut, “Rent-a-tent, ren-a-tent” maybe Mr. Bush took the Mars vs earth plan seriously. Leo

    Posted by leo ouimet on Mar 25, 2003 at 2:11 PM

        That’s a great question from Seamus; I’d add to that,Seamus,NEVER lose that fantastic idealism of yours—it’s the very stuff of our spirit. everything starts with a dream,it’s always been this way; idealism matures with its interaction with our daily experience—hopefully,rather than getting crushed by it—and could oftentimes bring forth wonderful things,like novel approaches and solutions to problems. Idealism is the “alchemical” output of the heart and mind working together to bring forth something of the spirit,something truly inspired. And its idealism like yours that may save us from the dreadful state we find ourselves in currently. like Mr. Vonnegut states,idealism gave us the Constitution,which is at the heart of America. I don’t think there’s any “idealism” left in such a corrupt governemnt as this,or at the very least in the Bush Administration,but we can and will conquer. Don’t ever lose it. harvest it with action,whatever comes from your heart.

    Posted by Ariel X on Mar 25, 2003 at 7:47 PM

    This is for Seamus: Step Number One, get out of Harvard!

    Posted by Tara on Mar 26, 2003 at 8:52 PM

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Appeared in the April 14, 2003 Issue
Also by Kurt Vonnegut
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