50th Anniversary of the Death of C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis (Hans Wild, Life Magazine)

The passing of C. S. Lewis was not much remarked at the time because it happened the same day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Lewis' death is still overshadowed by that sad event.

Here's Lewis on how we should treat other people.

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet if at all only in a nightmare. All day long we are in some degree helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization-–these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-–immortal horrors or everlasting splendours."
(from The Weight of Glory)