Inspirations: Terry Pratchett

It should be no surprise that, after Tuesday’s blog, I’m writing about Terry Pratchett again. He’s a huge name in the writing community, and even if words do survive us, it’s hard not to feel like we’ve all suffered a loss.

I feel for his family, his close friends. I’ll never know the pain they feel for losing him. What I do know is that I lost someone who was always innovative, smart, funny, quirky, curious, and adventurous in his writing. That’s hard to come by. I struggle with it myself. The commentary from Death on his feeds and the way in which his passing was handled was beautiful. I’m reminded, however, of another passage from The Hogfather.

“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET— Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME... SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

MY POINT EXACTLY.

Human beings need stories like the ones he told. We need them because they help us believe, and because they teach us. If fiction is a lie that teaches us something true, then I feel like I had a very good teacher in Terry Pratchett.

Sir, you’ll be missed.