Sunday, February 23, 2003

 
God Explodes Shuttle

Ummm, errr, no, he's on our side isn't he? I wanted to comment on this before but somehow it seemed in bad taste even for this cat. There were more than a few news sidelines devoted to god and his plan and how the shuttle disaster fits. It isn't unusual to look to god for answers in a time of tragedy. Hell (can I say hell), it's almost natural. Here's a story that's still online that states
FAITHFUL TURN TO GOD IN TIME OF TRAGEDY. I wanna quote a little piece of that article ....

"This is not attributable to God in any sense," said John Spansel, a retired Michoud contracts director who attended Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Slidell.

"Having worked in and seen how intricate the process is, you see how minuscule every little component is. Everything has to go perfectly for the process to even work," he said. "But we can turn to God in our sorrow and grief."

I'm never quite sure what god it is they're thinking of there. Is that the all-knowing one or the compassionate one? Nahh, it must be the one that says we have free will since he's had no part in it. I can't fathom how anyone can go with those contradictions and have faith. Ah, but then, it's not all bad news for the faithful though. If your god is on the other side it's all roses and champagne.... and I quote ...

BAGHDAD -- Immediate popular reaction in Baghdad yesterday to the loss of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew -- including the first Israeli in space -- was that it was God's retribution.

"We are happy that it broke up," government employee Abdul Jabbar al-Quraishi said. "God wants to show that his might is greater than the Americans. They have encroached on our country. God is avenging us," he said .


Tuesday, February 04, 2003

 
The Dance of the Dead

My grandmother passed away this evening, barely an hour ago actually. While it's nonetheless a shock, the woman I knew as "grandma" had left several years ago. You see, grandma had been suffering from small strokes for several years that affected her ability to communicate in any verbal way. I'm not sure we always realize the importance of speech. Needless to say any conversation was somewhat one-sided and you were never quite sure if she was grasping what you were saying to her. I think she did understand and she was very much a prisoner of her own body. I can't begin to imagine how frustrating that must have been for her.

My grandmother was very much a believer and was an active member of the Catholic church. We never spoke of religion though which I now find somewhat odd but I guess she thought it was more of a personal thing to her. Now comes the rituals as she'll be remembered and buried in full Catholic regalia so to speak. Perhaps ironically it's also the only way I know growing up in that environment and I find funerals not macabre as some do but rather a gathering of comfort. I don't think we'll remember her as the frail woman of the past few years but more of the person she was when I was a boy, a kind woman, silent but strong underneath. For you grandma and only you, God Bless.

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