On The Occasion Of His Birth...

Robert Heinlein wrote widely, deeply, and well, and most of it still sits on my shelves. And today, on the occasion of his birth, I rifled through much of it trying to find something short and satisfying.

As most of you know, on this blog I lean not-at-all-lightly on works from the various Golden Ages of science fiction to make a point here and there, or re-frame an issue that I think has fallen out of true, or just to underscore the formidably predictive powers of the best writers in the genre, who were, long ago, in the words of Ray Bradbury that I proudly fly in the banner over my site, not trying to describe the future, but trying to prevent it.

In addition to just telling some damn good stories (a noble act in itself that requires no further justification), what is great and enduring about the best science fiction is not the accuracy of a specific prediction (although some of the A-Listers from the 50s and 60s sketched out visions of the early 21st Century that have proven to be frighteningly accurate), but the habit of mind you acquired when it comes to the act of speculating about tomorrow in general.

When you start spending some of your personal Cognitive Surplus on asking the question "What happens if this or that trend continues?" over and over again.

The great good thing about science fiction is that it is a genre created on the radical, democratic proposition that this act speculating about "What If?" need not be the province of the few; that since Tomorrow was the birthright of everyone and the place where we all were going to live, under the duel disciplines of scientific and literary rigor, speculation about its contours and crises and social relationships could be made accessible and entertaining to everyday people.

And in the brief history of moderns science fiction, no one did more than the late Robert Heinlein to build it up from the cardboard cutout plots and characters of a few engineers getting gooey over gadgets into the gen-u-ine lit'rary genre it is today.

And so, a little something from the Old Man.

First, Heinlein's idea of what a fully rounded human being should be:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

And second, the transcript of his "This I Believe" speech written in 1952, which his wife, Virginia, read when she accepted the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal on his behalf in 1988:

"THIS I BELIEVE"
by Robert A. Heinlein


"I am not going to talk about religious beliefs but about matters so obvious that it has gone out of style to mention them. I believe in my neighbors. I know their faults, and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults. "Take Father Michael down our road a piece. I'm not of his creed, but I know that goodness and charity and lovingkindness shine in his daily actions. I believe in Father Mike. If I'm in trouble, I'll go to him."

"My next-door neighbor is a veterinary doctor. Doc will get out of bed after a hard day to help a stray cat. No fee--no prospect of a fee--I believe in Doc.

"I believe in my townspeople. You can know on any door in our town saying, 'I'm hungry,' and you will be fed. Our town is no exception. I've found the same ready charity everywhere. But for the one who says, 'To heck with you - I got mine,' there are a hundred, a thousand who will say, "Sure, pal, sit down."

"I know that despite all warnings against hitchhikers I can step up to the highway, thumb for a ride and in a few minutes a car or a truck will stop and someone will say, 'Climb in Mac - how far you going?'

"I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime yet for every criminal there are 10,000 honest, decent, kindly men. If it were not so, no child would live to grow up. Business could not go on from day to day. Decency is not news. It is buried in the obituaries, but is a force stronger than crime. I believe in the patient gallentry of nurses and the tedious sacrifices of teachers. I believe in the unseen and unending fight against desperate odds that goes on quietly in almost every home in the land.

"I believe in the honest craft of workmen. Take a look around you. There never were enough bosses to check up on all that work. From Independence Hall to the Grand Coulee Dam, these things were built level and square by craftsmen who were honest in their bones.

"I believe that almost all politicians are honest. . .there are hundreds of politicians, low paid or not paid at all, doing their level best without thanks or glory to make our system work. If this were not true we would never have gotten past the 13 colonies.

"I believe in Rodger Young. You and I are free today because of endless unnamed heroes from Valley Forge to the Yalu River. I believe in -- I am proud to belong to -- the United States. Despite shortcomings from lynchings to bad faith in high places, our nation has had the most decent and kindly internal practices and foreign policies to be found anywhere in history.

"And finally, I believe in my whole race. Yellow, white, black, red, brown. In the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability, and goodness of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth. That we always make it just by the skin of our teeth, but that we will always make it. Survive. Endure. I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching, oversize brain case and the opposable thumb, this animal barely up from the apes will endure. Will endure longer than his home planet -- will spread out to the stars and beyond, carrying with him his honesty and his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage and his noble essential decency.

"This I believe with all my heart."

Happy Birthday, Bob.

I'm awfully glad you passed our way.