Jimmy Higgins

I want to respond to an editorial written in a local Ohio newspaper. I'm wondering if anyone can help me tweek this some, or whether I should quit trying to write. Thanks.

Response to “Ashes remind us of life’s frailty”

I was slightly unnerved by the above mentioned editorial by the Most Reverend Anthony M. Pilla. While the message he tried to relay was one of harmony and peace, I feel his manner of trying to obtain such a goal only neglects the true lessons learned from the attack.

I feel that the article points to religion for peace when it ignores the most beautiful outcome that resulted from the attack in New York City. That was how the people conducted themselves after such an atrocity. Religion, race, color, sexuality all disappeared. Life, for a brief period of time, became the way it was meant to be. People were helping people. Some helped people they didn’t know. Some helped people they never would never even see. It wasn’t the firefighters who gave their lives valiantly in the twin scrapers. It wasn’t the policemen who would be crushed by the towers. They were all doing what they signed up for as humanitarians. It was the people that had nothing vested in that city. People that came from everywhere to just help those that needed help, irregardless of who they were and of the cost it would be to them. It was a moment that humanity should be proud of. It is the epic climax to the testament of the good in man as the holocaust was to the testament of the evil in man. Sadly, however, that moment has now passed us. As the shock has worn itself off of our minds, people have gone on doing what they had before September 11th. People are back to driving while intoxicated. People have continued to rape women. People have continued to steal from other people. People have continued back on their ways of gaining material wealth. I know Kurt Vonnegut’s character Kilgore Trout would reply to post September 11th America by saying, “Ting-a-ling.” It takes more to show that one has changed than just chanting “U.S.A.” at the television screen during the Olympics.

And so when the Most Reverend Anthony M. Pilla goes about growing closer to Jesus, I believe that will only drive us further apart. We must be growing together as a people for peace. One may follow the words of Jesus Christ, however, I doubt seriously that Jesus would pride a human’s followship of Christ over the human’s blind generosity to another fellow human. God has shown that he will not intervene in our plight using the manners we are using. To think otherwise would be foolish given our history, therefore our manner of direction must change in order to bring about peace. If we take pride within the real lesson of September 11th, when human beings selflessly came together in a city that had been wounded, we can begin the path towards not only bringing about peace but finally the ending of hatred.

The final point in the editorial I am deeply disturbed by is the mentioning of our vulnerability, “..the collective struggle we have suffered since is the realization of our unavoidable vulnerability.” By referring to the alms giving and prayer and sacrifice set forth in Lent, the Reverend Pilla, is attempting to show some sense of control in an area in which we have no control. We are vunerable merely because we are now technologically vunerable. Human beings are very weak creatures and are susceptible to so very much. To find that we are vunerable as surprising is naive. To further believe that we are the only ones who are vunerable in this world would be mindless. We as a nation have not had our mainland soil attacked by a foreign force since the War of 1812. Perhaps we should finally be heeding the warnings of our European allies who have not been as fortunate as us to learn what it feels like to be invulnerable instead of disregarding their words as weak liberal nonsense.

We all can gain strength from God, however, it is clear that we are responsible for our own actions. And in doing so, we must take strict regards to promoting humanity and not “Christianity”. Only when people indiscriminately cares for all other people will the realization of God’s kingdom be realized. Jesus would hardly shed a tear to a world where all humanity plays to the single rule of furthering humanity, its beauty, its grandeur, and its love.

trebor

Jimmy, here are my tweeks.

I was slightly unnerved by the above mentioned editorial by the Most Reverend Anthony M. Pilla. While the message he tried to relay was one of harmony and peace, I feel his manner of trying to obtain such a goal only neglects the true lessons learned from the attack.

I feel that the article points to religion for peace while it ignores the most beautiful outcome that resulted from the attack in New York City - how the people conducted themselves after such an atrocity. Religion, race, color, sexuality all disappeared. Life, for a brief period of time, became the way it was meant to be. People were helping people. Some helped people they didn’t know. Some helped people they never would never even see. too many nevers or something It wasn’t the firefighters who gave their lives valiantly in the twin scrapers. It wasn’t the policemen who would be crushed by the towers. I would redo the two previous sentences some way. "It wasn't the..." just doesn't really seem to communicate what I think you're trying to say. They were all doing what they signed up for as humanitarians. It was the people that had nothing vested in that city - people who came from everywhere to just help those in need, irregardless of whom they were and of the cost to them. It was a moment of which humanity should be proud. It is the epic climax to the testament of the good in man as the holocaust was to the testament of the evil in man. I would say this sentence is a little overarching. Sadly, however, that moment has now passed us. As the shock has worn itself from our minds, people have gone on doing what they did before September 11th. People are driving while intoxicated. People are raping. People are stealing. People have gone back to their ways of gaining wealth. I know Kurt Vonnegut’s character Kilgore Trout would reply to post September 11th America by saying, “Ting-a-ling.” It takes more to show that one has changed than just chanting “U.S.A.” at the television screen during the Olympics.

And so when the Most Reverend Anthony M. Pilla goes about ?? growing closer to Jesus, I believe that will only drive us further apart. We must be growing together as a people for peace. One may follow the words of Jesus Christ. [H]owever, I doubt seriously that Jesus would pride a human’s followship of Christ over the human’s blind generosity to another fellow human. God has shown that he will not intervene in our plight using the manners we are using. To think otherwise would be foolish given our history. [T]herefore our direction must change in order to bring about peace. If we take pride in the real lesson of September 11th - the fact that human beings selflessly came together in a city that had been wounded - we can start down the path towards not only bringing about peace, but also the ending of hatred.

The final point in the editorial by which I am deeply disturbed is the mentioning of our vulnerability, “..the collective struggle we have suffered since is the realization of our unavoidable vulnerability.” By referring to the alms giving and prayer and sacrifice set forth in Lent, the Reverend Pilla is attempting to show some sense of control in an area in which we have no control. We are vunerable merely because we are now technologically vunerable. Human beings are very weak creatures and are susceptible to so very much. This sentence seems to contradict the one before it. To find that we are vunerable as surprising is naive. I would change that sentence - maybe start with naive.. To further believe that we are the only ones who are vunerable in this world would be mindless. We as a nation have not had our mainland soil attacked by a foreign force since the War of 1812. Perhaps we should finally be heeding the warnings of our European allies who have not been as fortunate as us and learn what it feels like to be invulnerable instead of disregarding their words as weak liberal nonsense.

We all can gain strength from God. [H]owever, it is clear that we are responsible for our own actions. And in doing so, we must take strict regards to promoting humanity and not “Christianity”. Only when people indiscriminately care for all other people will the realization of God’s kingdom be realized. Jesus would hardly shed a tear to a world where all humanity plays to the single rule of furthering humanity, its beauty, its grandeur, and its love.

[ February 18, 2002: Message edited by: trebor ]</p>

echidna

It reads well to me, but it’s a little difficult without being able to read the article you are responding to.

My contribution : tweek should be tweak

Lame, I know.

Queen of Swords

Heck no, it's not lame. I was about to say the same thing.

sidewinder

I think the response is good. However, I'd like to say a couple things about your interpretation of Jesus of Nazareth. There has been and continues to be many different interpretations of Jesus of Nazareth. I think the only proper interpretation of him is who he was, what he believed, and how he acted within his particular historical context. I think he taught a few things here and there which are good teachings and applicable to our day but for the most part his teachings are around one idea (the imminent coming of the Kingdom of God) which was specifically meant for the people hearing him preach. His teachings were not meant for the long term. He believed the Kingdom of God was coming very soon, so he taught people to essentially stop living your normal day to day routine because the world is about to drastically change. My point is that many people have tried to reinterpret his teachings and make them somehow applicable for our present age but truly it distorts his teaching. I see no point in reinterpreting his teachings to make them applicable to our present age. Why not leave him out of it (except for teachings which could be applicable to us)and move forward with ideas that are applicable to our age, ideas which can help humanity.

sighhswolf

Excellent thought Sidewinder, and a point well taken.
I agree that most if not all of the teachings of this man were only repeats of concepts put forth
by numerous other cultures.
His ideas were not in any way "new" and certainly could not be considered extraordinary.
( if...historically, he existed at all).
Many think that he was very much a product of his times, and did absolutely nothing to distinguish himself from all the other "messiahs" running around the middle east at the time, which is pretty much borne out in the lack of real historical documentation of his so-called ministry during his lifetime.

He was in my opinion an "afterthought". Wolf

livius drusus

One other tiny correction, Jimmy:

People that came from everywhere to just help those that needed help, regardless of who they were....

Jimmy Higgins

I appreciate the comments. I'll make the appropriate ones and submit the article.

As to Jesus, I must point out that any discouragement of Jesus in this article would certainly end any chance of its publication. Therefore I choose to use Jesus and say to gain strength from your convictions (for most people that is Jesus), but you still need to act out and love man. I personally don't care where one gets their inspiration to love man, as long as the love all mankind. The NT Jesus was a great man with great ideas, but what I'm trying to point out is that the character Jesus would much rather want peaceful humanity rather than superficial followship.

Thanks again.

sidewinder

I disagree again with your interpretation of the NT Jesus and I stand by my first post. It's a shame that you have to include Jesus just to get it published. I guess people would rather hear fairy tales than the truth.

Jimmy Higgins

Sidewinder, I share that regard. Small steps. We are dealing with people brought up on this and just don't know better. Its an evolution of thought. We teach them to serve humanity and that takes them one step further from the necessity of Jesus. Then their children aren't as indoctrinated and the cycle will snowball to the point religion will no longer be needed for peace, not that religion ever brought us that in the first place. I mean speak about the pot calling the kettle black (meaning religion demonizing atheism).