Kid asks last night what George W Bush looked like so I showed him a photo of GWB next to Alfred E Newman bec thats what I think of whenever I envision his face. He was a bad guy, kid says. How do you know that? says I. He says, I dont know. Well says I, he started two wars which got a lot of people killed and there was some other ugly stuff so I think hes a bad guy yeah. Kid thinks, then asks: Is he sorry? I was surprisingly moved by this idea. Earlier Id been called upon as the resident para-Christian to explain Easter. Especially the part about bunnies, eggs, candy and other presents. Well, I said, around the world people believe different things about who made them and the world and the whole universe. Christians and Jews and Muslims believe there is one spiritual force whom we call God who made us and the world. And in Christianity we believe that God was angry at everyone on earth for not being good so he sent a man named Jesus who was a man but also a part of God himself, so that he could bring people and God back together. I had already mentioned the Middle East and Jerusalem as the central places of these three religions and I said the Romans were occupying Jerusalem at the time, and they arrested Jesus and put him to death but then when his friends came to the grave to grieve over him they found the grave empty and that Jesus had risen from the dead which was pretty amazing. Easter is the day we celebrate that he rose from the dead. At the same time, Easter is also a general holiday celebrating spring which means eggs and little chicks and flowers and parades of ladies in hats and jellybeans and chocolate and -- but I could see that it made no sense. So I went back. I said, Jesus rose from the dead and came out of his grave you know why? So he could march around to say I almost forgot! I want you to give the children little plastic eggs with toys inside them! Give them candy! Jellybeans and chocolate! Fake grass in baskets! The whole schmear! I forgot to tell you! Now youre kidding, says the boy.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 22:22:05 +0000