The car in front of me was wearing a bumper sticker that its owner had clearly modified. It read "America Bless God" with a little American flag heart next to it, clearly violating the flag code. I thought of the person buying the bumper sticker that said "God Bless America," thinking that it was all wrong, coming home from the convenience store or gas station, sitting down at the kitchen table with the scissors and carefully cutting the words out, cutting around the heart. I saw that person applying the words to the edge of the hatch, right under the window, nodding, saying "That will give them something to think about."
So I did. I thought about it. What is that supposed to mean, anyway? If you believe in God, isn't it hubris to think of blessing your deity? Isn't that muddying up the job descriptions, creating both inefficiency and possibly offending the boss? And how can a nation, which--being an abstract collection of geographical boundaries and citizens represented by a government--really has no ability to sanctify anything, confer blessings on a invisible, omnipotent being? Really, when you think about it, even saying "God Bless America" is rather presumptuous, again telling the deity his business. What if he doesn't want to bless America? What if he's too busy with the NFL playoffs and his Golden Globe picks, and just wants a break? Who are we to tell him to do anything, let alone bless an entire nation?
It's probably not the thoughtful response the driver was looking for, and it's made me late for cooking our dinner, but it got the creaky brain wheels working on something other than breast milk and poopy diapers, so it can't be all bad.
1 comment:
My thoughts exactly...right down to the fitting description of the person's train of thought and ill-thought-out "reasoning".
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