How to start? How to start? Well, I just finished Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. Perhaps the only emotions I have would be on my slighty expressionless, rather rosey red cheeks. To give you an idea, I think that I just got mind #%@ to be frank with y'all.
I left off last blog talking about communism and capitalism, but today I want to talk about the irony of this book. Felix Hoenikker, the created of the atom bomb creates a material named Ice-9, that can seemingly freeze any substance with a slight touch. The purpose of this was to get rid of mud, but the actual product was never used for that. When Felix died, the Ice-9 was divided between his 3 kids.
Ironically, the man who ended War World 2 also brought upon death to the world. The Ice-9 that he created can freeze anything. Anyone within contact of the substance will die instantly. Therefore when the President of an Island was tossed into the sea, so was the Ice-9. You can figure out the rest.
Anyway, this brings up an interesting point. The Atom Bomb saved the world, yet it destroyed man kind. Ice-9 was created to help man kind, yet it had a deadly and destructive underlying that wasn't perceived until it was too late. What is this trying to say about life? Is it saying that we humans try so hard to please and perfect, when were are only doing more harm than good? Maybe, but I think that this book deserves more thought than that.
How could it be that the destruction of man kind was so simple? No explosions, no pain, nothing. We look so hard for the answer to life, that sometimes we fall short of smallest details, and it hurts us. This is what happened here. The characters in the book were so concerned with their own well being, that they forgot that their greatest weakness, were themselves. The end of the world through Ice-9 could have been prevented, but of course no one thought that it was stupid to supply the Ice-9 to a corrupt president.
Sadly, we are all very stupid. The smarter ones are just less stupid.
