BUT WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

Bảo Hưng Trần
Aug 24, 2017 · 1 min read

In the Kurt Vonnegut classic Slaughterhouse-Five, an American prisoner of war muttered something a guard did not like. “The guard knew English, and he hauled the America out of ranks, knowed him down”, Vonnegut wrote.

The America was astonished. He stood up shkily, spitting blood. H’d had two teeth knocked out. He had meant no harm by what he’d said, evidently, had no idea that the guard would hear and understand. “Why me?” he asked the guard.
The guard shoved him back in ranks. “Vy you? Vy anybody?” he said.

Vonnergut drums this theme relentlessly. “Why me?” moans Billy Pilgrim when he is abducted by aliens. “That is a very Earrthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim” the aliens respond. “Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything?”

Only the naive ask “Why?” Those who see reality more clearly don’t bother.

It’s a trenchant insight. When something unlikely and important happens it’s deeply human to ask “Why?”

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