Maybe There's Hope After All

There comes a point wherein we should realize you know what, we're all on this planet at this very moment together right now, so lets help each other out. The universe has been around for 13 billion years, and yet here the two of us are at a Hardees on October of 2012. Relax. In the end, it doesn't matter. There's no reason not to make everybody's lives aspleasant  as possible. - XMASTIME

For the first time in I don't know how long, the Catholic Church has said something that actually makes sense. Via Sully we see Pope Francis' quote, in which he boils everything down to one thing: be nice.

“This ‘closing off’ that imagines that those outside, everyone, cannot do good is a wall that leads to war and also to what some people throughout history have conceived of: killing in the name of God. That we can kill in the name of God. And that, simply, is blasphemy. To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy … The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! …

We all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there,” - Pope Francis

Now, there's of course Dalton from Road House's version of "be nice":

Dalton: I want you to be nice.. until it's time..to not be nice
Bouncer: So, uh, how are we supposed to know when that is?
Dalton: You won't..I'll let you know...You are the bouncers I am the Cooler; All you have to do is watch my back and each others....and take out the trash!

And then there's what the Pope said...you don't need to be a Catholic, and you don't even need to believe in God to do that one, most fundamental, most basic human act...be nice. That's it.

"But Xmastime", you say in the voice of Craig “Ironhead” Heyward from those soap commercials (RIP), “didn't you write about this upon hearng your first Homily after returning to the Catholic Church in 2012?"

Sigh. YES, I'll copy & fucking paste. You're welcome, Earth.

As for the service itself it was fine; I kind of enjoyed it actually.  Amazing how relaxing church can be when 1) you can remove any religious mumbo-jumbo from the whole affair, and 2) you can simply get up and walk out at any time without the fear of your father burying you next to the septic tank in the backyard.  Father Lynch, whom I met the other day, made a point of coming up and saying hello to me shortly after I arrived (being one of half a dozen people in the building, I wasn't hard to miss)(wait - do you think it's because he knows about my life above the rim?), and I saw him while leaving and told him I enjoyed his Homily, which I did.  The gist was we all need to take care of those who can't take care of themselves, which to me is the single most important tenet of any religion, so it was nice to hear in a very specific way (again - no mumbo-jumbo, just straight-up be compassionate/golden rule stuff.)