Sunday, September 09, 2007

Religion meets transport


It would seem that religions have different ways of dealing with transport problems. The Church of England which is always trying to deal with today’s society (not really) has found that that it is hard to get a seat on a train and it can get very crowded on trains. Never fear though. They have a solution. They have written a special prayer for when you are on a train and unable to get a seat. It goes a little like this:

I failed to get a seat — again,
too many people on the train.
We’re stuck in a tunnel;
everybody’s sighing;
we’re not moving.
I breathe in —
“Let me know your peace and grace.”
I breathe out —
“And help me share it with the people here.”
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
For the sake of my sanity.
For the sake of your kingdom.

I think you will all agree that is very profound…

Christianity isn’t the only religion that is trying to deal with transport problems. Hinduism is not the cutting edge of transport problems. Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft. Amazingly the aircraft flew it’s journey soon after and no one was killed except the sacrificial goats.

What do I know… Maybe the prayer for a seat will work and if it doesn’t you could sacrifice some goats. I am sure you will have a whole carriage to yourself then.

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