Chuck

here is a Story from my past. though some of these stories on my web site will not be based on films or art work, they are Stories nonetheless and deserve a place on this web site.

i knew a guy named Chuck when i was living in madison, wisconsin. i think you could definitely go so far as to say we had a number of conversations. was he a friend? i think so. he was a house mate. there were about 15 people in this old wooden house, all living there with somewhat crowded conditions and only 2 bathrooms.

one thing that struck me about Chuck was that he had no one to rely on. he had only sporadic contact in his life with his father. and there were members of his family who had problems with madness. they went off on a greyhound sometimes, and now he had completely lost track of them, and did not expect to ever see them again.

but Chuck as a man was definitely self-sustaining. he had some sort of job and was going to the tech. he hoped to get a job as a lab technician, if i am not mistaken. for a while he had worked at taco bell. one day he said that he had once had a realization that "it's all taco bell. this entire world."

so when we talked, he mentioned that he loved the work of Heinlein. i said a long time ago i had read Heinlein. but later, i realized Chuck had had a great impact on me. here was a grown man who loved to collect these science fiction books. so i started buying the novels of Heinlein. i do owe Chuck something because of that. and the philosophy of Heinlein is basically, tell the truth, no matter what, survive, no matter what, and it's OK. it cuts through all the bullshit that is part of modern life. i truly admire the philosophy of Heinlein, although the idea that only certain select adults would have voting rights, well, i don't agree with that.

but the stuff that Heinlein says about knowing how to help a woman give birth to a child, how to survive in the wilderness, etc. is all good. i love the work of heinlein.

Chuck also collected historical books. one of his interests was world war 2. Chuck was the first person to tell me that perhaps when the Germans put Hitler in power, they were primarily concerned about stopping communism, not in his anti-semitism. i still don't know if i agree with this, but it's an interesting idea.

so Chuck was an inspiration to me. he collected books on history. he studied things that he didn't technically have to study. he was a perpetual student. and he valued the books that he did have. he had catalogs of historical books to decide what to study, what books to order.

now i try to study history as well. not long ago i read a biography of Cortez.

it is a good thing to value books. some real life stories are more unbelievable than fiction.

finally, i would like to mention Chuck's religious side. he truly believed that the anti-christ could come to power during his lifetime. he said, you know, if you take the mark of the beast, you cannot go to heaven.

so he challenged me to be a good Christian.

one more thing. he was a conservative in his own way. he was an independent thinker. and he challenged me to challenge my own old beliefs, to discard what was no longer true of me, and to become more of an independent thinker myself. that's about the time i let go of always having the liberal position no matter what.

now, on some issues, i am a conservative, on some issues, a liberal, and on some issues, in the middle.

one time he challenged me on the issue of abortion. he said to me, you know that abortion is murder. right? and i had to admit, yes. later i talked about the subject of abortion with another friend here where i live now, and my friend said, well, it's a tragedy no matter how you look at it. i've taken a step back and reserved judgment for now. yes, it is a tragedy.

so now i have lost contact with my friend Chuck. but i still have these Stories to tell, and i owe him something for having been a leader in my life, and leading me to appreciate that which is of value.