Editorial: Something wonderful this way came
EDITORIALS June 6, 2012 6:36PM
Ray Bradbury in Waukegan on October 30, 1984. | Photos from News-Sun Library~Sun-Times Media
Updated: July 8, 2012 6:51PM
Ray Bradbury, the eternal boy from Green Town, loved being alive. He told us so in every story he wrote.
Bradbury died Tuesday at age 91, and we will miss him. But whenever we need a reminder to revel in the electric surge that is life itself, we can go back and reread his most magical books, including Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Bradbury grew up in Waukegan, the inspiration for his Green Town. In the way of a boy, he didn’t much notice the rough sides of Waukegan, mostly seeing and remembering the soft corners — the elm trees and kindly store clerks, the summer carnivals and front porch swings.
In one of Bradbury’s more memorable stories, “All Summer in a Day,” a little girl on Venus misses out on seeing the sun, which is visible for just one hour every seven years, because bullies have shoved her into a closet.
The girl is heartbroken, of course, and so is the reader, who more often than not charges outside to look up at the sun, happy that he can.
