Christopher Hitchens died today.
I came to know him through his writing and television appearances only after he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, so too late for me to enjoy discovering him during the arc of his long career. He wrote and spoke about his illness with what I came to know was his characteristic incisive insight. My descriptions of him will fall short of so many others who said things like, "the incomparable critic, masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant" and he "will be remembered for his elevated but inclusive humor and for a staggering, almost punishing memory that held up under the most liquid of late-night conditions" and also that he "was everything a great essayist should be: infuriating, brilliant, highly provocative and yet intensely serious".
I'm surprised at how much his passing saddened me today as I'm not one to attach myself emotionally to people I don't know…celebrities and such. But he was just wicked smart. Ferociously intelligent in a way you don't often see. I agreed heartily with about half of his opinions and not at all with the rest. But in this age of people–politicians mostly I suppose–flapping their lips, expressing loudly opinions for which they have no basis on topics about which they have no knowledge – Hitchens was just beautiful to me by comparison. He took sides and took them boldly, unapologetically – but unlike most he had the substance to back them up. I suspect he was rarely outmatched. I respected his take on whatever topic he turned his considerable attention to because he knew whereof he spoke. That doesn't make him right all the time, but it's worthy of applause in the current culture.
I'm sitting now in the gorgeous library of university where I'm working to earn my degree as a counseling psychologist. I'm a good student and I work hard to learn all I can and do well. But I will never in a million years, no matter how many books I read or how many degrees I earn, be half the intellect he was. Which isn't to say I'm even striving for that, but just that I so admire it when I see it. The world is poorer for his loss.
This is Hitchens, a bit younger, but as I imagine his friends often saw him and may remember him:
And a poster that pretty much sums up the impressive batch of people he managed to piss off in his too-short life:
He said in one interview that his ideal way to die was, "Fully conscious, and either fighting or reciting (or fooling around)". Hope he got his wish.
~ k
Obits to read: NPR, Reuters, Vanity Fair. And words from the man himself…the article about Hitchen's self-imposed experience with waterboarding: "Believe Me, It's Torture".