Thursday, November 27, 2008

So, are you enjoying the recession?

I've seen on too many blogs, especially orthodox Catholic ones display an annoying smugness about the recession. People seem gleeful. One guy wrote that he wanted to wag his finger at people eating out in restaurants for wasting their money. Others seem to be glorying in the troubles of their neighbors.

The prophet Jerimiah, (I think) preached to the people of Ninevah and then went to sit down to watch them be destroyed for their sins. Instead they repented and God spared them. Jerimiah was bitterly disappointed. God told him to calm down. A lot of Catholic posters seem like Jerry these days. They can't wait to see their neighbors suffer. That aint Catholic. That's not even humane.

Do you want this country to sink into some kind of Depression? Yes, we would deserve it. For all the horrid sins of this nation particularly the raising of abortion to some kind of secular sacrament, we do deserve it. But do you really want it?

Do you want your brother-in-law living your basement because he lost his job and can't find anything else? Do you want to see working class people reduced to standing in soup kitchen lines? Do you want to see marriages bust up because there's no money coming in? Do you hate your tacky low class sister-in-law so much that you take secret comfort when she loses her job at Ford? Do you disapprove so much of your cousin's high flying lifestyle that you'll feel righteous when his mini mansion is foreclosed on?

Do you want to see marriages explode on a grand scale? Women need security in order to be happy. Even the strongest of us need to know that there is order and rythm in our lives. Love takes a big hit when the rent aint paid and bill collectors are calling. Is that what you want for our country? Want to see child abuse rise even higher than it is now? Weak, demoralized people strike out at weaker targets, you know. They turn to drink, they turn to drugs. They turn to all many of hideous things.

I'm startled at how many Catholic bloggers seem to want to be like the townspeople in The Scarlet Letter all sneering and pointing at Hester. It doesn't seem to occur to these folks that they might lose their own jobs and that all their stockpiled canned goods and garden won't make a bit of difference if the mortgage isn't paid.