People can romanticize, glamorize, and pedestalize him all they want–but the bottom line is that he went into something without a clue of what he was doing, and died because of it.

I rather doubt it was his choice to die, or that he “found himself” or “became enlightened’ or whatever other crap title someone wants to apply to him

Whether it’s a drunk frat boy falling off a balcony at spring break, walking down an Alaskan remote road with no preperation or mounting the proverbial rocket engine to your car, stupid people do stupid things. Their death doesn’t elevate them to MENSA status as a result…..

Yes society blinds most of us unless we are blessed by the mindset to rise above it (for some it is as simple as saying daily prayers!!!)
So, unfortunately, Chris had to live and die to give us another example of this simple lesson.
FORGET the therapists, use what God gave you and see the world. Even waking up before the sun rises in your urban places gives you a feeling and longing for a trip to the nearest piece of greenery.
Seek it before it is all gone!!! So you too can feel that special connection to nature and what it does to the human soul. It has always been speaking to us. Look at the domestic animals who sometimes gaze and fall asleep in contentment.
They don’t need the TV or the mall or the phone to live.
If these words are still taken with the ever so common western world cynicism, you are already a lot further from peace than you think!
Yes God has Chris. He is blessed to have been used to lengthen the human story. After all, we are writing right now. Even in these blogs.
Consider writing your own story, only on REAL paper!

“Some painful scars over my skin
I’m touching them just to remember
straight my mind, no more to lean
I closed my deal already in december.
Prepared to face unkown new battles
as my job is used to deserve
leading to West (M. East) an hurd of cattles
looking for profit for me to reserve.
What profession then is your job ?
Are you a cowboy or a ranger ?
Is your duty to govern the mob?
Or just you like the risk and the danger?
I’m only the owner of my enterprise.
Exchanging values all the world over
after I quoted my best price
I’m gliding above with the mood of a rover .”

After conceding something to Cina and Russia, in Spring time , next year , fireworks over Teheran .
“T” day

I just came across your blog while doing some research.

There are many Catholics who are crying out against this immoral and illegal war. Many of us are speaking out and doing it loudly. You are not capable of hearing all voices at once nor all voices everywhere. I believe that you are making a judgment based solely on your individual experience and individual experience is always limited.

I just returned from a trip to the Middle East where I saw first hand the ravages of war. There are many Catholics who are speaking out and trying to do all they can. I have found that the media ignores the anti-war Catholics. I note a fact that out of dozens of anti-war op-ed pieces I have submitted over the past five years, only one was ever used by my local paper and that particular piece was very brief. Don’t presume it is silence. Take into consideration that the anti-war Catholics are being ignored by a public that doesn’t want to hear what we have to say.

Peace,
Fr. Jeff G.

There have, of course, been anti-war liberals but I think the tendency I identified is a strong and persistent one within liberalism (and certainly within the New Republic). Your references to Vietnam and Nicaragua support my point. In the early phases of the Vietnam war, most liberal publications (including the New Republic) supported the war, which was after all being prosecuted by liberal politicians (JFK and LBJ). And the fact that the New Republic supported a strong policy of intervention in Nicaragua is perfectly in keeping with their prior support for WWI and their subsequent support for both Gulf Wars. We have nearly a century of the magazine supporting American militarism in the name of democracy and human rights.

About the use of imperialism and militarism in reference to WWI — that was the language used by radicals at the time (see the editorial Floyd Dell wrote in the Masses during WWI condemning the New Republic for its militarism — http://www.haloscan.com/comments/digby/498804284947257427/#692204 ). Support for the war was condemned at the time as imperialism not because the United States was seen as having imperialist designs but because it was allying itself with two leading imperialist powers (England and France).

If I’ve painted liberalism with too broad a brush stroke, this posting can be re-read to talk only about New Republic liberalism, not American liberalism tout court.