Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Althouse, Hitchens, Hughes

What if everyone had 5 "keep alive" cards, that could be played over the course of a lifetime to save human beings — only those you don't personally know? Millions would have played a card to keep Hitchens with us. I would have.
I was struck by the possibility that I may have indeed been given a "keep alive" card.

My card is not nearly as nifty as the one fantasized by Althouse. I don't get to choose for whom I might use it. My card already has a name on it. The name is that of a stranger, someone I have never met nor even previously heard of. The name is that of someone reviled by society, to the extent society even takes notice.

My card is, by itself, insufficient. Even if I play it, the person is unlikely to be saved.

My card is, however, necessary. If I don't play it, the person will almost certainly die.

And my card is hardly free. It demands quid pro quo. It demands that I change my life so that I can somehow become responsible for the very survival of social outcast, one who claims to have literally been misjudged.

How many of you would care to have such a card?

So struck was I by Althouse's fantasy that I bothered to watch the video that prompted it. I almost passed. I didn't have the time. My card was then (and now) demanding my time. But I clicked on the video.

I was dumbstruck by its relevance in how I am attempting to play my card.

Reward yourself. Watch the video in its entirety. Learn from the man that Althouse and millions of others would save.