There's something more

Reading for November 15, 2009

First grade class started off great. Teacher was actually echoing the very concerns I had. She spoke that first question that got me all pumped up from the start: “what am I doing here on earth?” Sister Felicia got my total attention when she set about telling everyone the answer. I really, really liked the way it began.

She said that we are on earth to know, love, and serve God. I liked that. I got the “knowing part”. I figured that was learning, school and all the really good stuff. “Love”, wow! I could do that easily, I was the “love baby”! Now I guessed the “serve” part must have been what my older brothers, Bob and Jerry were already doing as altar boys. I would see them “serving” mass up at the altar in the church where everyone in the neighborhood came to pray. I learned later that actually not everyone went to St Hyacinth School and church, that some people acted very differently from the people in my parish, and many of them weren’t even were Polish or Catholic; but that didn't come until later. I wanted to be an altar boy and serve mass too. I couldn’t wait. Sister Felicia went on to say that the knowing, loving, and serving God, then, was how we achieved the final goal.

Following ever word, I thought it made sense as Sister put it all together. The good Sister summarized that we were here, then, with the means to fulfill our one true purpose, which was to be with God in heaven. Once there, we would be in a state with “beatific vision” or, perfect happiness. She then described this happiness as being so big that she really could not put it into words because it was much greater than words, and - in fact - greater than anything on this earth. We were given the idea that it would be perfect ~ absolutely perfect happiness ~ we wouldn’t need, want, like, or desire anything – and nothing on earth could be perfect. I was musing the idea of being with God and absolutely happy, when suddenly, it dawned on me: this makes no sense. Why wait?

Now, as much as a six year old can, I deeply considered and weighed carefully, thoughtfully and thoroughly this position. I pondered as much as my then brain was capable of. I concluded that I already had "perfect happiness". In fact, so many happiness-certainties were filling my mind, that my first grade skull started to leak. I had vast love from my “love baby” status - and on this wise - all the affection and caring from my parents with special attention from my Aunt Nina, a burst of altruism and innate sense of service of others welled forth from somewhere in me and my hand shot up in revelation so profound I could not keep it to myself. Sister, sister, I have a question!

Yes, Henry, what is your question? I said, well if the goal of the life of humans is to be with God, why not take all the newborns and kill them so they could be with God right away? I thought that made sense, it fulfilled the goal, why go through all this life stuff, seemed like an unnecessary waste of time. I remember even then, speaking in the abstract, the underlying absurdity of killing babies sort of highlighted a system flaw...................there's something more.

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Happy daze,

The Captain