Requiem: The crucified planet Earth, should it find a voice and a sense of irony, might now well say of our abuse of it, 'Forgive them, Father, They know not what they do.' The irony would be that we know what we are doing. When the last living thing has died on account of us, how poetical it would be if Earth could say, in a voice floating up perhaps from the floor of the Grand Canyon, 'It is done.' People did not like it here.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Vonnegut imagines Earth as a crucified victim asking humanity forgiveness for our abuse, noting the irony that we know exactly what we are doing to it.
- In plain terms
- Earth might forgive us like a victim, but we know our harm is deliberate.
- What can you take from it?
- Humanity knows its environmental destruction is wrong yet continues it.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Do we deserve forgiveness?
- How aware are we of harm?
Another view
The metaphor may be too extreme for some readers.
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