so it goes
"So-" said Billy gropingly, "I suppose that the idea
of preventing war on Earth is stupid, too."
"Of course"
"But you do have a peaceful planet here."
"Today we do. On other days we have wars as horrible
as any you've ever seen or read about. There isn't
anything we can do about them, so we simply don't look
at them. We ignore them. We spend eternity looking
at pleasant moments- like today at the zoo. Isn't
this a nice moment?"
"Yes."
"That's one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if
they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times, and
concentrate on the good ones."
"Um," said Billy Pilgrim.
~~~~~~~
She upset Billy simply by being his mother. She made him feel embarrassed and ungrateful and weak because she had gone to so much trouble to give him life, and to keep that life going, and Billy didn't really like life at all.
Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughter house Five
of preventing war on Earth is stupid, too."
"Of course"
"But you do have a peaceful planet here."
"Today we do. On other days we have wars as horrible
as any you've ever seen or read about. There isn't
anything we can do about them, so we simply don't look
at them. We ignore them. We spend eternity looking
at pleasant moments- like today at the zoo. Isn't
this a nice moment?"
"Yes."
"That's one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if
they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times, and
concentrate on the good ones."
"Um," said Billy Pilgrim.
~~~~~~~
She upset Billy simply by being his mother. She made him feel embarrassed and ungrateful and weak because she had gone to so much trouble to give him life, and to keep that life going, and Billy didn't really like life at all.
Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughter house Five