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I'm A Weirdo

On the one hand, it's probably just an excuse to do what I want, but I would argue on the other that having a severe physical disability makes one a little weird. I've known too many of you, including myself, and I notice that we're a little off. It's an odd combination of desperately wanting affection and acceptance, while not giving a rat's behind about social mores, opinion, or other stuff.

I was doing one of those things last night: eating a salad with my hands. I don't know if forks offend me, or what. But this is not an uncommon thing. It's Friday in Lent, so it was a McDonald's side salad with two large fries. Side-bar, Your Honors: Those fries should never be part of a penance. How good are they? Honestly. So, I'm chomping away, and I nearly make it to the end of my salad. I'm not looking at the salad; I'm talking to my good friend and stuffing my face. And then...a shard of bacon. By the time I noticed, it was over. And clearly, it was an accident on their parts. That can't be a sin, right? And it was a shard; it was not a bacon-loaf made to look like stale bread. This is what I think about when you're not here. Right now, some guy is scheming to make bacon-loaf, and if he succeeds, he'll make Bill Gates look like a guy who won the door prize at Bingo Night.

Anyway, I have been assigned some reading of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. He was just the Bishop of Rome. That's kind of a big deal. But it strikes me as I read him that he is both brilliant and balanced. There are reasons he was chosen. He is not as the critics would have him, nor is he as the self-appointed paragons of orthodoxy would have him, either. If it is possible to remain loyal to the faith and the Church while being a rebel, that's who Ratzinger is. He was the perfect choice to be the guardian of doctrine for so many years before he was pope. Only someone who loves the Truth but is unafraid to ask questions (and hear them) fits in such roles.

On the other hand, our world fetishizes dissent and the expression of personal opinion. [Says the contrarian with a blog.--ed.] Shush. Contrary to Learned Hand and Miley Cyrus, the questions and the journey are not the point. Without a destination or a purpose, why are you leaving? If you didn't want an answer to the question, why'd you ask? Only a society that has relativized truth mistakes arrogance for bravery.

How does all this connect? How should I know? I'm a weirdo.

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