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Shut Up And Listen 211

Two Deaths

Guess I might as well get this out of the way as soon as possible, eh? Terri Schiavo and John Paul II have both died this past week as we are all aware.

With Terri Schiavo, like most people, I'm just glad it's all over. It was surprising how long she lived, too. The only thing that I'm not entirely pleased with is the fact that her husband won't be allowing her parents to attend the funeral. That's just fucked up. His reasoning is that they'll cause a scene or something like that, but so what? They were her parents and they deserve to be there if they want. It's not that hard to make sure that no one causes any shit and that's it's just about saying goodbye to a loved one. Or hell, hold two ceremonies so that both parties can get some closure. It's all over now, so they could at least act like civilised people and then never have to deal with each other ever again. It's just a shame that people can't put their differences aside, if only for a few hours when really it's about someone else.

And then there's John Paul II. I have mixed feelings about this one. Obviously, I'm not a fan of the Catholic Church or the Pope. But, you know what? John Paul II was a decent guy overall. He did some good stuff including getting rid of that "if you're not Catholic, you're a fucking sinful fucker" attitude within the Church, pushing for peace, pushing for some progress regarding women and mostly being a nice guy, I suppose. It was also under him, though, that the Church has gone through various sexual abuse scandals that they attempted to cover up rather than confront and do the decent thing. There's also their refusal to distribute condoms on third world nations with exceedingly high HIV rates. There were positive things and negative things, but honestly, I think he did almost as good a job as he could. You really couldn't expect better from a Pope and John Paul II genuinely seemed like a nice guy. I do think that if there's a heaven, he would go there . . . and not because he was Pope.

The thing that's been brought up surrounding this whole thing, in my mind, are all of the people who would gather outside the Vatican. I just don't understand it, to be honest. I cannot imagine being so devoted to someone I don't actually know. I can understand being saddened or whatever, but to wait outside while he's literally dying? That's kind of weird, don't you think? Another thing that struck me as odd was the praying. What was the point this time? It was obvious he was going to die, so obviously people couldn't be praying for recovery, and he's the fucking Pope, so I'm pretty sure everyone praying was certain he was going to go to heaven, so what was it for? It was said it was so he wouldn't suffer, but why not euthanise him then to prevent the suffering? But then you get into that whole argument. I don't know, it just seemed morbid and almost cruel, in a way.

Not much else to add. Until next week.