Warning: Cultural Commentary Ahead

Sometimes it's good for me to remember what this blog is and is not. It is not my own personal soapbox. Although I can pontificate with the best of them, it turns out that my point of view is not particularly uncommon. My position on the Terri Schiavo matter, for example, was well-represented around the blogosphere. Although I was tempted at times to add my voice to the chorus, it would have filled no gap, served no particular purpose. And so I refrained.

The same holds true for the death of Karol Wojytla--aka Pope John Paul II. The opinionators, pontificators, and quick-time cultural philosophers are hard at it. Most of them are graduates of journalism schools, which seems to qualify you as an expert in all things. Down beneath all the babble lie a few simple truths about the man from Poland, but only time will serve to reveal them.

I mean no disrespect to the man. Actually, I find him to have been one of the most remarkable men of my lifetime. But have you noticed that each succeeding death of a famous man or women has prompted a yet more extravagant cultural response? All this is driven primarily by the competition between various media-outlets for the attention of our eyes and ears. I mean, the roar is deafening. Is it really the "greatness" of the deceased one that makes it seem so loud, or is all this simply an "amped up" version of the old time newsboys in the street, holding up their papers and shouting the headlines to the passersby. The loudest or most attention-getting voice sold the most papers. And that was the purpose after all.

So they'll be no plaster pearls of wisdom from me concerning whatever earth-shaking story has captured the media-moment. Such pearls are, in fact, everywhere. The streets are littered with them. Me, I'm just waiting patiently for the parade to pass by so I can cross to the other side.