I haven't had time to appreciate the life of Christopher Hitchens properly, yet. I did not know him personally and I only learned about his existence this year, yet he quickly garnered my respect. His linguistic skills became the example I am striving to achieve. Being able to speak and write with such accuracy is a skill not respected in today's society, which I feel is a huge drawback. Christopher Hitchens also stood for science and logic and was unreserved when confronted with anything but.
He also is a great example for how even people of logic act illogically at times. He drank and smoked heavily, even with all the evidence of those leading to poor health. He also claimed to be a humanitarian but was for the war in Iraq. I see these as faults, but view them as articles worth pondering. How can someone so brilliant and logical fail to use evidence correctly? How many things in my life do I do that are illogical, yet believe are needed for my sanity? Tough questions, but I give credit to the life of Christopher Hitchens for exposing them to me.
Lastly, I will share links to some of his debates just so anyone interested can witness his verbal skills and passion of reason individually. You may not agree with him, but you cannot help but to respect his aura.
Debates Boteach
Debates Sharpton
I will forever remember the impact Christopher Hitchens played in my life.
Cheers to life!
I strongly agree that proper speech is an important key to life. Not only is speech an important key, but the ability to use it wisely. Isn't it funny how we judge others on their ability to speak? For whatever reason, we humans seem to believe a man/ woman that can speak well is an intelligent person. Look at the Obama controversy; I've heard so many people admit that they voted for Obama because he was an excellent speaker. Yet, speaking is a skill that not enough people appreciate, as well as the ability to write. Writing, proper language, and cursive is all slowing becoming a lost art.
ReplyDeleteI'm just going to be annoying and correct you. "For whatever reason, we humans seem to believe a man/woman that can speak well is *a highly intelligent* person."
ReplyDeleteFrom a teacher's perspective, letting students practice writing is a horrible experience, for the skill is so very low. If a teacher has you write a lot, be sure to thank them; he/she goes through hell grading all those papers with abysmal grammar.