A Delayed Thank You.

Lepers, I said lepers. 

Nine out of ten lepers agree that you should thank Jesus when he heals you. However, as history shows us, only one in ten actually does. However, the page seems to have turned back for three of the unthankful lepers as of 2:30pm today. As it turns out, they have indeed finally expressed gratitude for their new lease on life, albeit nearly 2000 years later.

Jim the leper, one of the original ten healed by Jesus, had this to say:

"At the time, I was just so awestruck. One minute I had no fingers and couldn't feel my lower extremities, and the next minute I was dancing like John Travolta, or actually like myself, although Travolta did a good imitation years later. I meant to thank the man who healed me, but I guess I just got caught up in the moment."

Another of the three, Bill, who also had that same 'caught up in the moment' feeling said, "I honestly didn't really think about it. At the time Jesus was on his first tour, so I didn't think much of it. But, after about 1500 years I started to think, 'Well even if you didn't know the guy you should've said thank you' and then, earlier today I realized I still could thank him. There's always time to be appreciative."

However, the third leper Bobby, had perhaps the most poignant remark when he said, "Let this be a lesson to future lepers who are healed. Don't wait two thousand years to say thanks. Saying thank you completed me, more than the healing ever could have."

The lesson this reporter got was, better late than never.

Chicken Extermination Order

So a couple days ago there were marching orders in Hong Kong to kill all the chickens. Apparently they were afraid of the bird flu again, and rather than take any chances, they ordered all the chickens that are typically bought and sold at markets and the like, slaughtered. I mean, sure, they were going to be killed anyway, but now they are being killed and going to waste. When I heard about this I began to wonder. What if there was some deadly disease that threatened to wipe out mankind and the carriers were our favorite flea bags, man's best friend, the dog? Would we, consciously make an extermination order? I mean I know some of you who hate dogs are awaiting the day, but for the rest of us, could we do it?

And, on a similar, albeit entirely different vein, what if a certain section of society had some incurable illness that threatened to decimate the world population? Would we exterminate them? Chances are good that the answer is no, however, there was at one point a leper colony on the island of Molokai in Hawaii, so maybe we'd just isolate them. Maybe we'd build them a fortress of solitude like the one Superman has in the north pole. There are so many possibilities.

I think many of us might cringe about the prospect of such things, but the fact is, chickens are being killed in Hong Kong. An entire population of chickens will be forever erased. It's true that they were all on death row anyway, but what if some of those chickens were innocent? What if some of those chickens were free from bird flu? What if there is a cure, and if we had only invested some time we could have saved the chickens? Save the chickens, save the world. Save the cheerleader, save the world. Sounds eerily familiar.