From the Edge: Remembering George Carlin
25 06 2008
You gotta love a person who speaks their mind, regardless of what you think, and maybe, in spite of it. That’s what George Carlin was all about. Yeah, he was 71, and yeah, he had chronic heart problems, but no, it didn’t make it sting any less when word spread that he died Sunday. In my personal Pantheon of People I admire, he’s right there.
Yeah, he was likely an ass to many, but when it came to not giving a fuck about what people thought, he was dead-on respectable. I didn’t know him besides his comedy, but I get the feeling that what you saw was what you got, and that’s hard to hide. His comedy wasn’t much more than poignant analysis and introspective views on things he found interesting. But it worked, because he managed to look into the places people took for granted and help them see things they never paid that much attention to. And even more than that, he helped them appreciate them. That’s a big deal to me. That’s something most people strive for in whatever field they choose. That’s the thing that made George Carlin matter to me, and likely many other people as well.
So, to think that this grumpy, old fart (his words, not mine) is gone, makes life seems a little less interesting today, if only because there’s one less person who looks at things like I do. And if I could have the last word (and he’d say, of course I could, because he’s FUCKIN DEAD!), I’d say that the world could use more like him - even if they’d curse you the fuck out for wishing for such sappy shit in the first place.
