two stories
seemingly strange things do occur. fortunately, most can be explained reasonably, factually, scientifically and even by the application of common sense. personal experience is seldom proof of anything and its understanding is almost exclusively tainted by personal interpretation based on everything but reason or the result of the proper application of the scientific method or even the "baloney-detection kit". if only we all chose to accept that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence we'd realise that our world isn't actually "haunted by demons". lighting a candle is better than cursing darkness...just a few hours ago, the beeb reported the burial of a south african man's body his widow had preserved for eight weeks because a «prophet» predicted he would come back to life. paul meintjes' body had been kept "on ice" by the owner of a funeral parlour before returning it to the family home where his widow kept it in a coffin by her bed for three days - apparently awaiting his return to life. see, «local prophet» david francis had predicted that mr meintjes would rise from the dead. this divided the family with his widow and two of her three children refusing to allow his body to be buried. i can't just blame the grieving family for this folly. i can't absolve the charlatan francis of responsibility. he should have been buried along with mr meintjes for a little while... see if he'd ever go round again spewing such cruel rubbish.
and along the same bizarre and rather sad sad lines, we find reuter's report about the dead vietnamese teenager kept at home for thirty-six years after a fortune teller told relatives they had buried the boy alive by mistake. the ho chi minh city police newspaper said yesterday that the teenager's family thought he had died in 1968 of illness, but a herbal medicine man had told the father his son was still alive after the burial. stricken with remorse, the father dug up the body and kept it at home, displayed in a glass-covered coffin, perhaps awaiting the son's awakening. interestingly, the police newspaper reported that the body of the boy had not decomposed.
i certainly hope somebody makes it possible for science to perhaps grant this family some peace of mind. examination and study of the corpse would certainly establish cause of death and determine beyond all shadow of doubt whether the boy had been alive at burial, which is indeed extremely unlikely.
it amazes me how religion's ridiculous promises of after-life and even culture in general seems to actually keep us forever mourning and grieving horrid loss rather than remembering, celebrating and honouring life!
ngiyabonga ka khulu, seanw.
