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| March 5, 2020 |
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Ignoring
Clint Eastwood's advice in "Dirty Harry" that
opinions, like certain body parts, are best kept to
yourself.
| The
destination sounds great, but wait your turn |
 For
most of the Catholic Church’s history suicide has been
considered a grave crime, but there were many in the early
church whose deaths sound a lot like suicide. That might be
because they were.
I'm often asked where I come up
with these daily "Global Air Links", they come
about because of things that happen around me, or something
on the news, or a personal experience. I was visiting with a
friend the other day, a guy who is 'way more religious than
I am, (and that would include just about anybody), and for
whatever reason the subject of life after death came up. It
sounded like he was actually looking forward to it, being in
heaven with departed loved ones, how great that will be.
"Well", I said, "if
you're looking forward to all of that so much, why don't you
go now?" Sometimes that mean streak in me comes out
for a peek. "Oh, no", he said, "that
would be a mortal sin to kill myself, and then I'd never
make it to heaven."
I was thinking about
that conversation last night, and out of the fog came a
memory from my college days back in the 1960's. I attended a
Catholic university, most of the professors were priests or
monks, and I remember a class discussion about the church's
position on suicide. It seems, according to our instructor,
the founders of the church did such a gosh-darn good job of
making the hereafter sound great that a lot of the faithful
just couldn't wait for old age, disease, or bows and arrows
to do the job, and started to off themselves in record
numbers. So, to put a cork in that bottle, the word came
down from on high that if you did yourself in, all bets were
off and you'd never see those pearly gates.
 From
2012: Spending
an Eternity in College
The brochure from my
alumni association had a photo of the college cemetery in
the trees near the lake, with the words "FOR ETERNITY"
in big red letters. The copywriter reminded me to "take
comfort that one day we will all be together", and I
should be looking forward to the trip.
I
learned something researching this subject, Google is
looking out for me. Type the word "suicide" in the
search engine and Google will immediately become concerned
about you, "Don't do it, Ron!" and they try to
redirect your search to the national suicide hotline. Good
to know, and hopefully they save a few lives.
As
for me, I like it down here just fine.
Global
Air Aviation Referral Service
I welcome
responses, and will be glad to post them here. Email your
remarks to
ron@global-air.com |
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