The passing of Pope John Paul II is a somewhat somber event. Though Sinead O'Connor may have shredded his picture to pieces on Saturday Night Live and summarily shredded her career with it back on October 3rd, 1992 while shouting "FIGHT THE REAL ENEMY!". I remember this whole controversy, and found a very interesting article on it, her and the NBC post incident cover-up. Read it here: Sinead O'Connor shreds Pope John Paul II's picture on Saturday Night Live.
Anyway... These days, it seems like the world has been in a funk. You can't turn on the news or TV at all without live dead pope coverage. Ok... I can understand that. He was a great and charismatic leader, for which the world mourns his loss. With this, many will claim to have re-discovered god or Jesus or what have you. Others will go to church more or try to feel more christian. This post traumatic stress is akin to when New Yorkers all decided to be noticeably nicer to each other in some sort of mass kumbaya attitude after the 9/11 attacks.
But now comes that bastard stepchild of media sensationalism... Obscure semi-related stories. I found one in today's New York Post. It boggles my mind how people misconstrue things and re-interpret them to suit their needs during major world events.
In an article next to the "Weird but true" section (this had to be intentional) titled: "CRASH MIRACLE ;'Born again' driver survives fiery death collision on Belt'".
The irony starts from the first ludicrous lines: "A born again Christian in an SUV- whose license plate read "I M SAVED" - miraculously survived a fiery collision yesterday that killed a retired firefighter who was going the wrong way on the Belt Parkway. Curtis Plunkett, 30, of Elmont L.I. was in stable but critical condition at Brookdale Hospital after the 4 am crash."
Here's where I start to boggle.
"Retired FDNY Lt. Walter Knobloch, 59, of Massapequa L.I. was killed after his 1999 Ford Crown Victoria crashed into Plunkett's 2003 Mercedes SUV."
Ok... How do we end up glorifying this? Jesus didn't save this man... A 3 ton truck did. A Crown Vic hitting an Mercedes SUV is like a like a man trying to tip a rhino. How can you go on and say Jesus saved this man? I hate when people try to make things look more mystical and religious than they really are. I guess this is a prime example of what we call "spin".
If Jesus really saved this guy, why didn't he save this decorated hero fireman? You don't get to be Lieutenant by just getting kitties from trees. He must have saved countless lives in his career, now retired since 2002. But no... Jesus saves the guy in the behemoth instead. My mother used to tell me when I was young "God looks out for fools and babies..." Well this guy was foolish for driving the wrong way on the Belt Parkway, but god didn't save him, evidently.
15 years ago, when I was younger and more foolish, I slammed into a bridge backwards in a spinout at 125 mph. I was in my first sports car, a tiny 1979 280ZX. I should have died that day, but I walked away from it literally. At the point of impact, prior to this collision, someone had spray-painted an inverted pentacle and 666. Does this mean Satan saves too?
I'm sorry... This just rubbed my fur just enough to write this.