April 2, 2005
“He was a great man.”
I find it difficult sometimes to say my opinion, but today I’m going to do it. You may find it offensive, but sometimes that can’t be helped. I’m sure this is a lot more interesting to read than hearing about my current sickness at any rate.
So Pope John Paul II passed on last night. I can understand how the Catholics that worship him in a God-like way would be mourning, but what about the rest of the world? The part of the world that curses on an hourly basis? That scoffs in the face of Christians the world over? That calls the Bible a “book of fictional legends”?
I haven’t been watching the news, but I can imagine what they’re all saying. Pretty much the same tired lines of what a great man he was, and how much he did for mankind. That’s all fine and good, but why weren’t they spouting off about how great he was last week? Last month? Is it just because he’s passed on that it’s time to admire his accomplishments?
What I don’t understand is what the big deal is. He was the Pope, yes, a man of God. But he was not, nor will he ever be, God. There are people out there who do great things every day. But if they aren’t in the media spotlight, then they get short shafted on the grieving. We shouldn’t be praising this man, we should be praising what is behind the man.
Even if someone doesn’t believe in God, saying that they do nice, charitible things because of the Pope seems really sad to me. If the Pope didn’t exist you wouldn’t do nice things? You can’t do nice things because of your own convictions? Are you still going to give money to beggars on the street in a few years from now, in the name of Pope John Paul? Or will you have forgotten, like everyone else?
Wake me when the world stops being so two-faced. At least the atheists that laughed about the Pope’s passing were consistent.
Little Miss said,
April 4, 2005 @ 3:27 am
Well, I guess I can’t speak for everyone else, but when I found out the Pope died, I wasn’t like, “Oh, that’s so sad. He was such a great man, blah, blah, blah.” I think my exact words were, “Oh man, that sucks. He was so old though. He was bound to go at some time.” I know some people might find that a bit offensive, but to me, the Pope was just a really respected priest, and that was it. He was old, and it was his time to go. That’s it.
Brian Arnold said,
April 4, 2005 @ 11:58 am
Some thoughts:
Some of your readers are Christian. I understand that you’re not, and respect that.
I did some checking, and roughly 17% of the world is Catholic. That’s over one billion people. I didn’t find Canadian statistics, but I was able to easily find stats that say that roughly 25% of the US is Catholic as well. Considering what a large chunk of the world it affects, I can understand the massive media coverage.
Generally, when someone passes away, their life is remembered and discussed, including all of their accomplishments. I’m sure that many people would have willingly talked to you about all of the great and wonderful things that Pope John Paul II was involved in before he died, but after his passing, it seems appropriate to remember his life and to remark on what an amazing life it was. He’s arguably one of the largest figures in Christianity, if not the largest, in the last 100 years and possibly more.
“Is it just because he’s passed on that it’s time admire his accomplishments?” Yes, yes it is. That happens all the time when people pass away. It helps the people who are still alive to grieve. They remember all of the great and wonderful things that the person was involved in. I can’t think of a single famous person who’s died in the past ten years who didn’t get at least some media coverage, usually at least a couple of days worth, and possibly a TV special. It just so happens that the Pope affected a very huge chunk of the earth’s population, so he’s going to get a lot more coverage. Over half of the earth’s population has only ever known Pope John Paul II because he’d been there for over 25 years.
For quite a few people, his death is a very big event. It may not be in your life, but considering how many people it affects, it’s going to be all over the place for awhile. He’ll have his funeral on Friday, there might be something on Saturday afterwards, and then we’ll all move on with life.
I respect your thoughts, and can see where you’re coming from. I just wanted to suggest another position. This post doesn’t influence our friendship. If posts such as these had any significant impact on my friendships, I’d lose some of my best friends, and I’d hate that.
Cremes » Just to Clarify said,
October 15, 2005 @ 11:00 am
[…] m Sometimes I like to look back and reread old entries in my blog. I stumbled upon this one, written last April. I don’t know why I didn’t see it then, but I wanted to bring up somethin […]