We are what we pretend to be

Kurt Vonnegut was born on this day in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1922. He died in 2007 at the age of eighty-four. In between those events he did a lot of things, but most of all, at least for most of us, he wrote. Starting with Player Piano in 1952, he wrote fourteen novels, a couple of anthologies of short stories, and some non fiction.

I notice that the Wikipedia article on him lists his genre as “satire, gallows humor, science fiction.”

He probably would have a lot to say about our current state of affairs.

Of his many observations about our human condition he once said “We are what we pretend to be.” I’ve long thought about that. And even more, the conclusion of that sentence, “…so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

Words of wisdom…