The power is back on and I am up and running. Oh man, the last few weeks have beaten me up, but what's new? So a lot has been going on as I've been lost and grieving the loss of my sweet old puppy. Apparently Haiti almost got knocked right off of the map. I am absolutely amazed at how cynically people can spin an immense tragedy. Pat Robertson has apparently come out and said that Haiti was hit by a magnitude 7.0 earth quake because the people of Haiti made a “pact with the devil.” Are you serious Pat Robertson? You really believe that nonsense?
Fear-Based Logic
I get Pat Robertson though, I understand where he is coming from. Pat Robertson is patently afraid to die. Most of us are, I suppose; but Robertson's fear of death is exaggerated and extreme. This is the basis for loads of religious fervor. You are terribly afraid of dying, and so you have to set up in your mind a reason that other people die. The logic is, that if you follow just the right path, you might be able to avoid dying. Of course, no one's managed to do it yet; but that's beside the point. People like Pat Robertson have to condemn massive tragedy as based upon wickedness, or else the Robertsons of the world would have to admit that there may not be “divine providence.” The world might just run on plain old chaos, random probability, and luck. Of course, the Robertsons of the world are incoherent anyway; they bless a child who dies and condemn a teenager. A woman who dies at 92 has lived a good life, while a man who dies in his 40's must have done something to bring about this awful, premature demise: he must've danced with the devil.
Save it Robertson, everyone gets theirs. It doesn't matter what you or Mother Teresa or Alister Crowley has to say on the matter. Truth is truth and death is inescapable.
Forgive Them, They Know Not What They Say
I had someone else tell me that the reason so many Haitians were killed in a magnitude 7.0 earth quake is because “they are dumb.” He was referring to the building codes and regulations. I wonder if he's ever given a thought as to what might happen in just about any Mid-Western town if a 7.0 earth quake were to strike. I wonder if he considered that there hadn't been a major quake in Haiti since the late 1700's.
I heard this same kind of logic applied to the people who suffered through the flooding in New Orleans after Katrina struck. I was told they were “too dumb to get out before the hurricane hit; too lazy to walk out of town.” Frankly Pat Robertson's idea makes more sense to me than this – what, an entire city, or country, is only occupied by people too dumb to make a proper building or too lazy to walk out of town in the event of a terrible flood? No, there has to be more to it than this.
I get tired of this nonsense. The simple fact is that luck plays a greater role in all of our lives than we ever give credit. Right now the weather is howling outside – out power was down for 5 hours today and many residents and businesses are still in the dark. That's nothing, a run of the mill storm; and our town and our buildings are made to weather these kinds of storms. We'll be fine. But you know the weather is changing. I don't care of you believe in global warming or not; if you don't believe in change you're a fool – it's the only thing you can count on. Things will change – temperate zones will become dramatic, where the Earth once stood still it will shake, rattle and roll.
So what are you going to do? There isn't much you can do. Wear death on your sleeve, keep it in your pocket. Let death be your companion and your advisor. Let every decision you make be tempered by the knowledge that you might not be here tomorrow. Like your grandma might have said, you could be hit by a bus. You might be sucked off to Oz in a tornado. You might be crushed under a stack of Marshall amplifiers. It doesn't matter, there isn't anything you can do about it. Don't live in fear, like Pat Robertson, and those of his ilk – always searching for the reason that other people die.
My brain's a ball of mush, but I know that Pat Robertson is an ass; and instead of looking for the reasons other people die, he ought to be wondering why he's alive. I don't mean that like it sounds, I am talking to myself as much as anyone here. What are we doing with this strange, sometimes beautiful, sometimes horrifying life we have been given?
madbob@madbob.com
