god loves me, he loves you not

I remember after September 11 feeling disgusted by many things beyond the act of terrorism. One of most troublesome things for me was the reaction of some of the people who worked in the building but hadn't been there when the tragedy occurred. They talked about how God had decided to spare them. Oh yeah, I thought, because God--if he exists--has nothing better to do than to pick and choose who should sleep in and therefore not die in a burning inferno. That's not in the least bit offensive to those who actually did die in the madness, since these kinds of statements implied that God felt they were worthy of a horrible death.

And so I'm bothered again, this time with the crash of a plane in Thailand this past weekend. Canadian Millie Furlong was one of the lucky people who managed to escape from the burning plane, along with her Thai boyfriend. Her sister told a Canadian newspaper, "God was definitely watching out for her," and Millie herself said their respective gods were looking out for her and her Buddhist boyfriend. Meanwhile, news emerged of another Canadian, Larisa Fayad, who was not so lucky and perished in the crash.

So is anyone really going to tell me that God looked down upon the earth on Sunday and chose to spare Millie and her boyfriend, but decided that Larisa just wasn't worth it? Really? And what are the bigger implications of this? Why would God have chosen me (for example) to live in a prosperous, developed Western country while so many people are doomed to suffer in another country plagued by natural disaster, civil war, poverty and illness?

RainyBow

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SunnyShine note: Millie doesn't know much about god because Buddhists don't believe in god. People always want you to think you're less of a person if you don't believe. Such crap. I also love how murderers (and bad people in general) always 'find god' like that somehow clears the slate. They are better than I am because they have been saved. Michael Vick has suddenly found god. Sure.