To Hitch

Christopher Hitchens has passed away, falling to esophageal cancer at the age of 62. He was a writer, journalist, polemicist, critic, an opponent of injustice and oppression and always willing to speak his mind fully. It was a shame that only within the last couple of years he became more of a public figure, since he was a radical challenger to the status quo and had no problem criticizing society's "sacred cows", being a vociferous critic of figures such as Bill and Hilary Clinton, Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama, never as a figure of blind hatred, but careful, focused criticism that often escapes the incessant blind worship of those figures.

As I came to a realization in my life that I was no longer a believer, I found myself adrift to a certain extent, I enjoyed the scientific readings and commentaries of Richard Dawkins, but being primarily a man of letters (in my own inflated view of myself that is) then a man of science, I found Dawkins' comments on religion to be extremely dry. However, it was through my readings on Dawkins that I came across Hitchens, who were friends, and seeing a video on youtube of the two of them together, I found Christopher to be extremely witty, funny, and bang on in his assertions. Soon enough I was reading his works, and from then on I was a fan of the Hitch. Have you ever had one of those moments as a reader, or as a viewer, and you come across a figure who just seems to perfectly encompass your own thoughts, describing and articulating them in a manner which leaves you astounded? That was me when I read Hitchen's work, and his book God Is Not Great remains a particular favourite. While he was primarily known recently for his anti-religious positions, he was primarily a political writer and figure, very early on in his career going to dangerous places and sitting in with rebels and renegades and giving voice to their otherwise silent struggles, bringing their opposition to tyrannies around the world to an international stage.



A prolific writer, he was also a heavy drinker and smoker, and such a lifestyle caught up to him recently, being diagnosed with esophageal cancer last year. Despite his obvious ill health, he continued to work until he simply could not from weakness, unwilling to give in. Whatever you may think of his politics or his opinions, he was a hard-working, intelligent, urbane and above all, honest man who was a hero of mine from the first time I heard him.