More That A Few Words About Ken Kesey

The following is reprinted with permission from the weblog of Ken Babbs, friend and neighbor of the late Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Sometimes A Great Notion, Demon Box, and other works.  Mr. Babbs is also a novelist.  He wrote Who Shot The Water Buffalo? a book based on his experiences as a Marine helicopter pilot in Viet Nam. Mr. Babbs' website, Sky Pilot Club, is linked on the right. 

 Mike:

Speaking of Kesey, I received an email from a guy in Florida doing an article on Kesey (actually on Kesey's book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). He emailed me some questions. Here's one, with my answer.What do you think is the legacy of Mr. Kesey?

A double sided coin, one side his great writing and the other side his living art.The word showman is very close to the word shaman and Kesey was both. He said his greatest work was the bus because it wasn't art written on a page or shown in a movie but was art out amongst the people, living art. This is the artist part of his legacy.

The human part is his humanity to his fellow men and women. He summed it up by saying, "People in the know know what sets them apart is their knowledge that the carrot is better than the stick, that mercy comes before justice and the only compass you can trust is love to guide you down the mean streets of money mad America and, remember, the most important thing is be kind." 

 -o-

Comments?

I’m with the person who noted, "The most important thing, is to be kind." Can you post this someplace where it will possibly do some good. Like Facebook. I did love the picture of the bus. Well done, again. --Linda B

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I'm not a Ken Kesey fan, Mike, but this is good and I'm definitely picking up Who Shot the Water Buffalo? We killed quite a few of those too on the USS Blue and the USS Hollister and what most people don't realize that in so doing, we wiped out a family's way of making a living. As much as I abhor war, I think that sometimes books like this are necessary so that we don't forget what Steinbeck referred to as "tragic accidents." – Rusty

Agreed – MB

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Nice essay.... thanks for sending.  – Sum

Thanks for reading – MB

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Always a pleasure to read about you and yours. Thanks for sharing these insights. Hearts and thoughts  -- Pirate

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Very nice, Mike.  Thanks for reposting.  --  kb  [Ken Babbs]

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“The most important thing is to be kind.”  What a wonderful world we could live in if all followed this, “be kind.”  -- Carol.

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Great  piece.  Looking at that bus makes me hear Steppenwolf's Magic Carpet Ride in my head. “Well you don't know what we can find/ Why don't you come with me, little gir/l on a magic carpet ride ….”   -- Tammy

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I would give almost anything to have been on that bus with the Merry Pranksters. The trip of a lifetime.  And if you do a compilation of your stories I'd like a signed copy as well. "You're either on the bus or off the bus.”  -- Wht

That quote is Kesey’s, cited by Tom Wolfe in The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, Wolfe’s first person account  of the Pranksters’ cross country odyssey in the bus named “Further,” pictured above.  Kesey meant either your are mentally and spiritually with us as well as physically --  or not.  Sigh.  Leave it to a former English major like me to complicate a simple declarative sentence.  -- MB

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Very thought-provoking, Mike.  – Amanda

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Loved  the piece.  Great writing, and points made.  --  Zoey