Pope John Paul II
Im not a Catholic. My family has always attended Protestant churches, mainly Baptist, and I haven't been to church in a long time. But I couldn't help but be overwhelmingly sad as I watched the funeral for the pope today on AOL..since I aint got no TV lol. Seeing the masses of people that were present, including a large number of world leaders, made me realize how enormous the Catholic Church is and how wide its reach truly is. This was also evidenced by all the flags that were flying in the air from many different countries all over the world and by the makeup of the officials of the church including bishops and cardinals. I may not agree with the forced conversion that would take place a long time ago to bring Catholicism to places such as South America and some of the past and current 'not-so-Christian' practices of the Church, but we can't rewrite history and what's done is done. I at times have a problem with the idea of religion because I try to rationalize it, and if one thinks rationally and logically about religion, one will come usually come to the conclusion that most of the ideas in MOST relgions, not just Catholicism, are big jokes. Reincarnation?? 40 virgins for being a martyr?? Come on! However, I think I need to start taking it for what it is, just the simple idea that a person should have something to believe in. I admire the idea of religion mainly because it gives people some sort of guideline for how they should conduct their lives. I like the fact that religion tries to teach people to be good to their fellow man and take others into consideration, which is the highest good I think a human being can do. I sometimes equate it with the idea of government in the fact that it lets people know what is right and what is wrong. But government lacks one characteristic of relgion, and that is that religion gives people hope. Hope that even though things might not be so great now, they will get better if you devote yourself and believe in something that is bigger than yourself. I think this serves to make people humble and make them realize that they are not the biggest thing on the planet, qualities which a vast majority of people lack.
I honestly have no idea if anyone can follow in the pope's footsteps as he was so well-liked. Even though he was the leader of the largest religion on the planet, he made great efforts to reach out to everyone all over the world, going to Cuba, worshipping at Jewish sites, reaching out to Muslims, etc. He was the most well-travelled pope, which showed his conviction to not only get non-believers to believe, but also that he was respectful of religions that were different from his own. Even though I wasn't a part of his religion and I may not agree with all his views, I did admire him, most of all because he was a man who stood by his convictions and what he believed in, even though they may not sometimes be very popular. If any of the world leaders that are at the ceremony could be even HALF the man John Paul was, this world would be a much better place. They would be concerned with helping ALL the people in their society and not be greedy and selfish and only thinking of themselves and their friends and their party. I agreed with his criticism of capitalism, one of the most selfish ways I believe one can conduct a society. I also overwhelmingly agreed with his opinion that this world has entered into difficult times and that it can be an unbearable place to live in sometimes. I watched the movie "City of God" yesterday and also got really sad because that movie epitomizes how difficult it is to just survive for MOST people on this planet and yet we want to chastize them when they get involved in certain illegal activities such as selling drugs. I don't agree that they should be doing it, but sometimes I cant blame them because their government and essentially how the world is set up sometimes leaves them with no other alternatives. This world is ridiculously unfair and somestimes deperate times call for desperate measures. I guess my belief that this world, in essence, sucks is one of the reasons some people may see me as pessimistic. At present, however, I lack John Paul's belief that it will "get better." In other words, I lack the hope and faith he did. I think I really need to change that. R.I.P
I honestly have no idea if anyone can follow in the pope's footsteps as he was so well-liked. Even though he was the leader of the largest religion on the planet, he made great efforts to reach out to everyone all over the world, going to Cuba, worshipping at Jewish sites, reaching out to Muslims, etc. He was the most well-travelled pope, which showed his conviction to not only get non-believers to believe, but also that he was respectful of religions that were different from his own. Even though I wasn't a part of his religion and I may not agree with all his views, I did admire him, most of all because he was a man who stood by his convictions and what he believed in, even though they may not sometimes be very popular. If any of the world leaders that are at the ceremony could be even HALF the man John Paul was, this world would be a much better place. They would be concerned with helping ALL the people in their society and not be greedy and selfish and only thinking of themselves and their friends and their party. I agreed with his criticism of capitalism, one of the most selfish ways I believe one can conduct a society. I also overwhelmingly agreed with his opinion that this world has entered into difficult times and that it can be an unbearable place to live in sometimes. I watched the movie "City of God" yesterday and also got really sad because that movie epitomizes how difficult it is to just survive for MOST people on this planet and yet we want to chastize them when they get involved in certain illegal activities such as selling drugs. I don't agree that they should be doing it, but sometimes I cant blame them because their government and essentially how the world is set up sometimes leaves them with no other alternatives. This world is ridiculously unfair and somestimes deperate times call for desperate measures. I guess my belief that this world, in essence, sucks is one of the reasons some people may see me as pessimistic. At present, however, I lack John Paul's belief that it will "get better." In other words, I lack the hope and faith he did. I think I really need to change that. R.I.P
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