Goodbye George

I can’t say I was a true fan. I don’t owe a single George Carlin CD or DVD. I never saw him perform live.

To me, George Carlin was someone who was always just there. From my early childhood to just a few weeks ago, he was there to remind me just how insane the world I lived in was.

As a boy I snickered at his jokes about (gulp) god. In high school we laughed/coughed when he talked about meatcake. And as a parent I fought back laughter when I heard him take on the roll of Mr. Conductor.

Whenever a George Carlin special was on television, I stopped and watched it. His mind was so sharp, so quick to pick up on the absurdities that we all take for granted. And no matter how irreverent you thought you were, George was always a step ahead. To him the bible was science fiction, and god was an invisible man who lived in the sky.

I’ll miss George Carlin. We need people like him, now more than ever. And even though I consider myself an optimist, I’m not sure that we’ll see anyone like him for a long, long time.