Integrity of Creation 

Judith Crist wrote this on January 1, 1967, "Happiness is too many things these days for anyone to wish it on anyone lightly. So let's just wish each other a bile less New Year and leave it at that." Of course, I love anything that makes me laugh, but this triggered some thought for me about, for want of another word, bilelessness. Bile and the irascibility and bitterness of temper that are manifested by it are nothing anyone would want in our lives. But what about the anger that even Jesus demonstrated in the Temple with the moneychangers? A question I pose for our consideration is What makes you angry? In particular, what makes you mad enough to take an action?

How about the estimation that by 2010 there will be 37 million orphans in Africa because of AIDS? The medicines to treat HIV, for as little as $100, exists but is not available to Third World countries. Or what of the recent statistic from the US Dept of Agriculture that 35 million people in the US do not have enough food and 12 million of them are children? Not to completely flatten you, this is my final burr: as the mortality rate rises daily, it is estimated that the Iraq war will cost Americans two trillion dollars.

Anger can be righteous and there are simply some things in this world that need to be changed now. It can be done. Is there something that makes you mad enough to cause you to step out of your ordinary nice person mode? I wish you a very, very uncomfortable New Year.

Sr. Gretchen Shaffer