Nothing like driving past a dead body in the next lane to slap you back to reality in the morning.
Unidentified man jumped from the tallest span of the interchange at US-75 and US-635 this morning. And apparently the police need bigger blankets in their squad cars.
I want to feel sorry for the guy, and I guess maybe I do just a little, but at the same time, beyond the fact that he chose to kill himself period, the fact that he decided to do it in such a public, dramatic fashion - and by doing so put others at mortal risk - tempers my sympathy quite a bit.
As I passed the scene, I was aware of an odd sensation, though. One that I had not experienced before. It was the stark juxtaposition of this lump of protein laying in the middle of the highway that used to be a person - one who came to the conclusion that life was not worth living - against the now-tangible and brightly burning sense of life and potential and future that was emanating from the little girl strapped into the child seat behind me. I swear, it felt so real I wouldn't have been surprised if it had started casting shadows in the car...
I remember thinking "Lord, please don't let her see that..." I didn't want her to have to wrestle with (or ask me) the questions that come from the sight of a corpse. Questions that seem particularly empowered when death invades the normal, day-to-day routine of our life to slap us in the face with our own mortality. Not yet. Thankfully, that prayer seems to have been answered in the affirmative.
Now I get to carry the image of the body-almost-under-the-blanket for a while. That which has been seen cannot be unseen. And if you know me, you know I'll be running all of the implications of the scene through my head for some time. Lovely. Welcome to the week!
Monday, November 08, 2010
Monday, November 01, 2010
Last night was my little girl's first Halloween to go trick-or-treating. Met up with some friends and went as a group and a good time was had by all, but I gotta tell you - Halloween is certainly not what it was when I was a kid. I'm not going to waste a lot of time here bemoaning the changing times or waxing nostalgic. Times change, that's the way it is, that's the way it has always been - deal with it. And generally speaking, nostalgia gets pretty annoying pretty quickly for everybody except the person being nostalgic. No, I just kinda want to ask - to no one in particular except the people to whom the question will apply:
WHAT THE HECK??
First off, if you are in High School, and are not there because you are a freakishly intelligent ten-year-old that jumped ahead in school somewhere, then you are too old to be Trick-or-Treating. And I'm definitely being generous, here. You're easily old enough to get a job and go buy your own dang candy. If you must go out anyway, don't push the little kids out of the way to get to the candy at the door. If there's a bowl of self-serve candy just sitting on the porch, just take one or two - pieces, not handfuls. People already suspect you're an ass - doing things like that will just prove it. You also run the risk of causing a tired, grouchy parental unit to go ballistic and stuff you into your own candy sack. Fair warning...
Second - Hello - Parents? Little kids should not be dressed as pimps, hos, or anything gory and dead. I'll make a partial exception on that last one for the time-honored skeleton or ghost costume, but if there's splattered blood involved, you're over the line. A) Pimps and hos - come on - do I really have to explain this one?? Sex is going to be a difficult enough subject in the not-too-distant future of your child's life - don't throw mud in the water now. Let them swim around as long as possible in what little innocence this world allows them to keep, 'cause once it's gone, it's gone, and it never comes back. B) Gory dead things. Want to play around with that stuff and laugh about it when they're older? Make fun of death and show how tough you are in the face of what would otherwise be shocking? Fine. But on a child? Come on. Some would argue that I'm being too serious here, but look at it this way. Ask any front-line vet, first-responder, police officer or paramedic just how funny death is, to say nothing of bloody messes. Once you've seen the real thing, it ain't funny - ever again. Everybody will have to deal with death sooner or later - let the children just be alive for now. 'Nuff said...
I would like, however, to reinstall my sense of humor now, because there is a wide swath of the American culture that seems to have completely lost theirs when it comes to Halloween...
I remember going to an all-out Halloween party in the basement of our church back when I was about 5 or 6 - dressed as a little red devil, to boot. And I wasn't the only one - other scary costumes abounded. These days most churches wouldn't dream of doing a Halloween ANYTHING. They have to be called something like, oh, I don't know, harvest festivals, or something like that (inside joke - sorry!), as though by renaming it, everybody forgets that it wouldn't be taking place at the end of October were it not for the fact that Halloween does too. The 'good Christian watchdogs' snoot down their noses at all things Halloween just as fast as they do about other topics that are far more controversial and that exert far more influence on our culture and country than one silly, spooky night. They cite reasons like the origins of the event, or what other people do to 'celebrate' the day and how Christians should be setting a better example.
The thing that befuddles me is that, in their self-righteous clucking they seem to conveniently ignore the discussions on the origins of Easter and Christmas as well. While both holidays are - in perception, at the very least - "Christian holidays," neither are, in any direct sense, scriptural. Some have argued that their respective dates were chosen to "Christianize" pagan festivals (although that theory is far from being 'the gospel truth' - so to speak). Whatever the origins, when my family comes together for Christmas and decorates, exchanges gifts, whatever - we do so to celebrate family and the good news of the birth of a Savior. A Savior who told us to live life abundantly, by the way - not in fear. By exchanging gifts, we are not celebrating the crass commercialism so prevalent in our Capitalistic culture, nor are we attempting to draw attention away from Jesus and toward Santa by reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Similarly, we may decorate and hide eggs or share the occasional chocolate bunny on Easter, but we are not performing some ancient fertility rite by doing so. The day is about remembering what Christ accomplished and the promise that comes with it - the rest is just having a little fun along the way. To round out the thought, as we were going from door to door last night, I promise you the topic of Samhain never came up, and at no point in the evening did I feel anything resembling an urge to sacrifice something to appease the spirits - whatever that means.
I suppose my point is this: Not everybody celebrates Halloween, or Christmas, or Easter - or whatever - in a way that I would, nor even necessarily in a way that I would find non-offensive. That fact is never going to change. But their method of celebration does not define mine. Have the fall festival - by all means - just don't pretend Halloween isn't there, or is somehow inherently evil. Other people may celebrate it in evil or misguided ways, but responding by simply disappearing or complaining won't change that, and if all we can focus on is those evil, misguided people and practices, we will actually wind up giving them more power - not taking it away. Besides, quite frankly, I don't give a rip about the origins of the celebrations. It's a little bit of interesting ancient history, and that's it.
And just for good measure, not every celebration has to be about some event in Jesus' life. Were that the case, throw out birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc... Want to set a good example? Fine. But "taking your ball and going home" and spitting at the people that still want to play is NOT setting a good example.
Hope everybody had a fun, safe, and happy Halloween. Looking forward to Turkey Day - uh - I Mean, Thanksgiving...
WHAT THE HECK??
First off, if you are in High School, and are not there because you are a freakishly intelligent ten-year-old that jumped ahead in school somewhere, then you are too old to be Trick-or-Treating. And I'm definitely being generous, here. You're easily old enough to get a job and go buy your own dang candy. If you must go out anyway, don't push the little kids out of the way to get to the candy at the door. If there's a bowl of self-serve candy just sitting on the porch, just take one or two - pieces, not handfuls. People already suspect you're an ass - doing things like that will just prove it. You also run the risk of causing a tired, grouchy parental unit to go ballistic and stuff you into your own candy sack. Fair warning...
Second - Hello - Parents? Little kids should not be dressed as pimps, hos, or anything gory and dead. I'll make a partial exception on that last one for the time-honored skeleton or ghost costume, but if there's splattered blood involved, you're over the line. A) Pimps and hos - come on - do I really have to explain this one?? Sex is going to be a difficult enough subject in the not-too-distant future of your child's life - don't throw mud in the water now. Let them swim around as long as possible in what little innocence this world allows them to keep, 'cause once it's gone, it's gone, and it never comes back. B) Gory dead things. Want to play around with that stuff and laugh about it when they're older? Make fun of death and show how tough you are in the face of what would otherwise be shocking? Fine. But on a child? Come on. Some would argue that I'm being too serious here, but look at it this way. Ask any front-line vet, first-responder, police officer or paramedic just how funny death is, to say nothing of bloody messes. Once you've seen the real thing, it ain't funny - ever again. Everybody will have to deal with death sooner or later - let the children just be alive for now. 'Nuff said...
I would like, however, to reinstall my sense of humor now, because there is a wide swath of the American culture that seems to have completely lost theirs when it comes to Halloween...
I remember going to an all-out Halloween party in the basement of our church back when I was about 5 or 6 - dressed as a little red devil, to boot. And I wasn't the only one - other scary costumes abounded. These days most churches wouldn't dream of doing a Halloween ANYTHING. They have to be called something like, oh, I don't know, harvest festivals, or something like that (inside joke - sorry!), as though by renaming it, everybody forgets that it wouldn't be taking place at the end of October were it not for the fact that Halloween does too. The 'good Christian watchdogs' snoot down their noses at all things Halloween just as fast as they do about other topics that are far more controversial and that exert far more influence on our culture and country than one silly, spooky night. They cite reasons like the origins of the event, or what other people do to 'celebrate' the day and how Christians should be setting a better example.
The thing that befuddles me is that, in their self-righteous clucking they seem to conveniently ignore the discussions on the origins of Easter and Christmas as well. While both holidays are - in perception, at the very least - "Christian holidays," neither are, in any direct sense, scriptural. Some have argued that their respective dates were chosen to "Christianize" pagan festivals (although that theory is far from being 'the gospel truth' - so to speak). Whatever the origins, when my family comes together for Christmas and decorates, exchanges gifts, whatever - we do so to celebrate family and the good news of the birth of a Savior. A Savior who told us to live life abundantly, by the way - not in fear. By exchanging gifts, we are not celebrating the crass commercialism so prevalent in our Capitalistic culture, nor are we attempting to draw attention away from Jesus and toward Santa by reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Similarly, we may decorate and hide eggs or share the occasional chocolate bunny on Easter, but we are not performing some ancient fertility rite by doing so. The day is about remembering what Christ accomplished and the promise that comes with it - the rest is just having a little fun along the way. To round out the thought, as we were going from door to door last night, I promise you the topic of Samhain never came up, and at no point in the evening did I feel anything resembling an urge to sacrifice something to appease the spirits - whatever that means.
I suppose my point is this: Not everybody celebrates Halloween, or Christmas, or Easter - or whatever - in a way that I would, nor even necessarily in a way that I would find non-offensive. That fact is never going to change. But their method of celebration does not define mine. Have the fall festival - by all means - just don't pretend Halloween isn't there, or is somehow inherently evil. Other people may celebrate it in evil or misguided ways, but responding by simply disappearing or complaining won't change that, and if all we can focus on is those evil, misguided people and practices, we will actually wind up giving them more power - not taking it away. Besides, quite frankly, I don't give a rip about the origins of the celebrations. It's a little bit of interesting ancient history, and that's it.
And just for good measure, not every celebration has to be about some event in Jesus' life. Were that the case, throw out birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc... Want to set a good example? Fine. But "taking your ball and going home" and spitting at the people that still want to play is NOT setting a good example.
Hope everybody had a fun, safe, and happy Halloween. Looking forward to Turkey Day - uh - I Mean, Thanksgiving...
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