EASTER TALE

A TIME EXISTED WHEN A NEWSPAPER STOOD FOR SOMETHING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE WAS REPUBLICAN; THE SUN-TIMES, DEMOCRAT. HOW HAS IT COME TO PASS THAT MY LOCAL COLUMBUS DISPATCH STANDS FOR NOTHING? IT CHOOSE TO OFFEND NO ONE. ITS EVERYDAY WATCHWORD (EXCEPT FOR ITS LEFTIST POLITICS) IS ‘DETACHED.’ TO PROVE IT, IT CHOSE TO PLACE ITS ULTIMATE CASE OF NOTHINGNESS ON THE FRONT PAGE OF EASTER SUNDAY'S NEWSPAPER. IS NO EDITOR ASHAMED? WELL, NO, BECAUSE THAT WOULD REQUIRE A JUDGMENT. I PROTESTED LAST YEAR TO THIS SAME PAPER ABOUT ITS AMORALITY ON RELIGIOUS OCCASIONS, SO THIS YEAR IT CONCEDED WITH A HAPPY EASTER LILY AS THE FRONT PAGE HEADING OF EASTER SUNDAY'S 'HOLIDAY' PAPER. BUT I ABANDONED HOPE WHEN IT PRINTED A PATHETIC STORY ABOUT A HOMELESS MAN TITLED "PATH TO REDEMPTION." THIS ARTICLE WAS BYLINED BY TWO 'GIRLY MEN.' THE TITLE, I PRESUME, WAS A DELIBERATE PLAY ON THE TRUE MESSAGE OF EASTER.

BUT THERE WAS NO ‘PATH’ BUT A LOSER'S PATH, NO ‘REDEMPTION’ FOR THE MAN PROFILED BECAUSE HE HAD NOT A CLUE TO SUCCESS IN LIFE - AND NEVER WOULD. EVERY STEP OF THIS HOMELESS-PERSON-WHO-LIVED-IN-A-TENT STORY TOLD HOW JIMMY FUMBLED HIS WAY. OVER THE YEARS, HE HAD BEEN ASSISTED BY BELIEVER'S IN CHRIST'S EARTHLY MESSAGE - TO FEED THE POOR, SHELTER THE HOMELESS, CARE FOR THE SICK AND CLOTHE THE NAKED, ETC. BUT THIS 'LOSER' JUST FUMBLED ON IN SPITE OF CHARITY AND ASSISTANCE FROM OTHERS. JIMMY SAID THAT IF HE WERE "OFF THE STREETS, INTO A DECENT ENVIRONMENT AND GOT SOME WORK" HE WOULD BE O.K." GIVE ME - NOT HIM- A BREAK. EACH OF HIS WISHES WERE AVAILABLE TO HIM TIME AND TIME AGAIN AND DUH! HE BLEW EACH OFF LIKE SMOKE, REPEATEDLY, UP TO THE AGE OF 40.

BUT TODD AND PETE - THE TWO FEMINIZED REPORTERS- AT LEAST GOT THE FRONT PAGE COVER PICTURE RIGHT. I SAW CLOSE UP AND PERSONAL THE FACE OF CHRIST, MIRRORED IN THE LOWEST OF THE LOW OF HIS HUMAN CREATIONS. DID THE TWO NON-JUDGMENTAL WRITERS INTEND THIS?

IF IT PLAYED FOR SYMPATHY, THIS TALE WORKED AS POORLY AS THE LAME METAPHOR OF THE LOST BIRD. THE AUTHORS CONCLUDE THEIR PIECE : "LIKE THE LOST FINCH, JIMMY NEEDS TO FIND HIS OWN WAY OUT. HE'S JUST NOT SURE HE'S READY TO FLY YET." HOW CAN HE? JIMMY'S 'NUTS.' FURTHERMORE, FROM THE AGE OF 14, HE PROBABLY NEVER GOT PROPER PARENTING. HE NEVER LEARNED RIGHT FROM WRONG. HE NEVER MADE A CORRECT CHOICE. HE CONSISTENTLY ACTED IRRESPONSIBLY. HE 'HAD IT ALL' INCLUDING A WIFE AND CHILDREN, AND THREW IT ALL AWAY. HIS SMOKING, DRIINKING AND PETTY CRIMES DIDN'T HELP. SOCIETY CAN'T FIX HIS LIFE. ONLY THE LOVING GOD I SAW PEEPING THROUGH THE PHOTO OF THIS POOR SOUL’S USELESSNESS, CAN GIVE JIMMY A FLIGHT HOME.