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archives | newquaker.comSaturday, June 14, 2003
Homeland Security is everyone's business, so don't wait to find out whether you rate as a patriot or not. Take Ray Lesser's Homeland Security Self-Exam and avoid the need for new, intrusive government agency interrogatories.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 9:23 PM
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
The Norwegian Blue parrot is nailed to its perch again. The Bush Administration’s attempts to convince the public that Iraq had "Weapons of Mass Destruction" are beginning to sound a lot like Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch.
Mr. Praline (John Cleese) goes into a pet shop to complain that the parrot he purchased a half hour earlier is dead. The shop owner (Michael Palin) says: "No, no, 'e's ah, ... he's resting." Despite the evidence, the shop owner will not admit that the bird is dead. The parrot is "stunned" or "pining for the fjords," he claims, giving John Cleese this great line:"It's not pinin,' it's passed on! This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed him to the perch he would be pushing up the daisies! Its metabolical processes are of interest only to historians! It's hopped the twig! It's shuffled off this mortal coil! It's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This .... is an EX-PARROT!"
The shop owner eventually tries to replace it with a slug, since the shop is all out of parrots, but those who remember this classic skit will surely appreciate the parallel I am drawing.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 10:17 AM
Sunday, June 08, 2003
After visiting Jerusalem and sleeping on the spot where Jesus was supposed to have been crucified, Kevin Kelly had an epiphany: He would shed his possessions, visit his family for the last time, and live as if he would die in six months.
That's fine. There is something surely romantic about giving up all your earthly possessions and living each day for the moment. To live for the moment was even elevated to a mantra in the 1960s. But I think we ought to do the opposite, or something close to it: however long we've lived, we should live life as if we had that same amount of time still ahead of us. So instead of living as if death were imminent, we ought to live life as if death were assuredly at a distance.
Why treat the future as longer rather than shorter? God knows the number of our days. Only God knows, too, the end of the age [Mark 13:32]. Jesus commands us to "keep watch" because we do not know when that time will come [see Mark 13:33-37; Matt 24:42-44; Luke 21:34-36]. What happens when we undertake to live as if it's our last day on earth is that the need to be watchful becomes a mere gratuity. When the future is distant—not close by—we must plan ahead and must therefore be watchful. As a consequence, too, we cease to focus on ourselves (giving up possessions, saying goodbye to family and friends, enjoying our "last" days) and instead focus on how we can best use our time to fulfill our own purpose in God's plan.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 1:24 AM
© Merle Harton, Jr. All rights reserved. Biblical references are NIV® unless otherwise noted.
