March 26, 2023

I recently visited the Kurt Vonnegut Museum in Indianapolis

It's a very informative little museum which of course includes the horrors Vonnegut encountered while a POW interred at Slaughter House 5 in Dresden at the time of the allied fire bombing that killed tens of thousands of civilians.

There was a quote about the rise of the Nazi Party that applied to the German people, which Vonnegut believed expressed truth about human character in such matters. I can't remember the author's name, but it goes like this:

Ten percent of people are always cruel: ten percent are always merciful; and the other 80% can be persuaded either way.

Your passage about convictions and opinions brought that to mind, and I concur that character plays a large role in whether a person can be persuaded towards cruelty or mercy. Or fascism vs democracy.

This is not to say character is immutable, or the future is unchangeable. Our reality is not that of Billy Pilgrim and the Tralfamadorians who can merely observe the tapestry of time and passively comment "So it goes."

People do learn, grow, and change. A key percent in the middle can be persuaded in the realm of opinions, and that is our central task. Kurt Vonnegut was a humanist, and the message I derive from his body of work is to be kind.

In our highly polarized nation it is easy and in some respects satisfying to view those on the other side as our enemies, and treat them as such. Schadenfreude abounds, but that is not how we persuade others to change their opinions. Perhaps more than ten percent never will.

Joe Biden decided to seek the presidency at an advanced age because he saw (as we all do) that the Soul of America is at stake. On character, the contrast between him and his predecessor could not be more stark.

We should all hearken the words of perhaps our greatest preseident regarding the better angels of our nature. Then after four years of brutal civil war he called for healing the nation's wounds with malice towards none.

Six years earlier he noted that a house divided against itself cannot stand, which I believe is a truth that applies today.

Will America and its dream survive to become a more perfect union?

Another truth expressed here is that democracy is a never ending struggle. It requires we act on our convictions, and as we engage in this struggle let us not forget our better angels.


Peace,
Martin