Many people have written about Christopher Hitchens this week. The vast majority spoke of their personal anecdotes. From legendary parties at his house to sheltering his friend, Salman Rushdie, who had a fatwah death sentence at the time for writing Satanic Verses. I have had none of these experiences. Please indulge me while I write a few more words in his honor.
A candle burnt at both ends burns twice as bright but half as long. Christopher was a torch. When he died, I thought of “Funeral Blues” by W. H. Auden. More specifically, the reading of that poem in the film “Four Weddings and a Funeral“. Think me dramatic if you like since I had no first hand knowledge of his wit and candor. Yet, I did. So many others did as well.
Quite a few years ago, Stephen King released a non-fiction book titled, On Writing. Between giving solid tips to writers and a few of his odd childhood experiences, there were a few paragraphs about a rabbit that he described. King explained he is transporting the rabbit to me through an indirect telepathy. The exact details of his rabbit are lost in translation between me and Stephen as it becomes my rabbit, but it is a reasonable approximation. This thought transference allows a sort of unidirectional time travel. We aren’t in the same room together let alone the same year… But we are together sharing our experiences.
I have always enjoyed the feeling of being a part of the story that comes with reading quality fiction. However King’s mental exercise with his rabbit was the first time I thought of reading a book as spending time getting to know the writer. Over the last few years, I’ve spent a great deal of time getting to know Hitchens. I will never shake his hand and that truly saddens me. He will however continue to be a friend of mine in the years to come. I hope he is a friend of yours too.
I hope to see each and every one of you at the Northwest Freethought Convention in Seattle, Washington next year!
~Wesley