In his autobiography,
Hitch-22, Christopher Hitchens declared, “I personally want to ‘do’ death in the active and not the passive and to be there to look it in the eye and be doing something when it comes for me.” It seems he fulfilled this wish, chronicling his struggle with esophageal cancer until he succumbed to pneumonia, a side-effect, yesterday, aged 62. I knew Christopher when we were both in our 20s. Though I often disagreed with his opinions - which veered from youthful Trotskyite verbal bomb-throwing to neocon advocacy of America's disastrous war in Iraq - I admired his blistering wit, his ferocious literacy, his wicked contrarian courage. He never met a tide he wasn’t willing to throw himself against, preferably with a bottle of Johnny Walker Black (his “breakfast of champions”) in hand.
Fare well, Christopher Hitchens. You denied God and gods, and spurned the heaven of religions as a "celestial North Korea". You are now entering a larger geography than you knew in the 60-some countries from which you reported. May your many gifts, and your delight in the dance and slash of words, serve you on the road of this immense journey. May you avoid leaving any part of you stuck in a bottle of Johnny Black. May you file fresh accounts from new territories, and find native guides who will help you to understand what you are experiencing. May your paths be open.
He may not have wanted it, but you have written him a lovely benediction.
ReplyDeleteWith such a delicious send-off, you may find him visiting now and then to report from territories that may indeed astonish him.
ReplyDelete"He never met a tide he wasn’t willing to throw himself against" what better way to live a life? nice tribute to an intense and perpetually seeking soul. Thank you, Robert!
ReplyDeleteThough I disagreed with a lot of what Christopher Hitchens said, I enjoyed the passion he had in presenting his views and arguments. When I heard of his passing yesterday, I felt empathy and also had the feeling that he had chosen his method of dying as a response to the internal conflict that his conacious mind must have had with his soul consciousness, given the vocal anger he often expressed. Thanks Robert Moss for your perspective. I have learned to value your "reporting".
ReplyDeleteA nice tribute, Robert, though my master wants me to remind you that there are far worse places to be "stuck" than in a bottle of decent Scotch.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the fine blogging!