Sometimes a tree is just a tree

Dear Editor,

There’s a lot of Bible thumping going on. An assassination attempt will do that to a country.  It’ll rouse the political party whose candidate was targeted too.

Middle-East saber rattling, regional wars, nuclear weapons bravado by countries with, or close to nuclear capability, and 9/11 level events demand our attention as well. Those who wax apocalyptic over each pessimistic news-blurb come out of the woodwork.

HBO’s Bill Maher recently remarked, “Enough is enough with interpreting every random event as a DM from heaven.”

Maher, an avowed, and proud atheist often addresses these events with more common sense and clarity than many Christians. Non-believers often do, but it’s hard to totally ignore the coincidences between Bible prophecy and current events over the past century: an increase is natural disasters, creation of the ten-member European Union, the ability for many nations to view an event simultaneously, a global economy and growing Middle-East tension.

You have to wonder, though, about the significance of an American flag twisting in the wind to look like an angel, smoke billowing from the World Trade Center on 9/11 that recalls Osama Bin Laden’s face, or a cloud resembling the Virgin Mary.

An exasperated Picasso, frustrated with people over-analyzing his paintings, supposedly exclaimed, “Sometimes a tree is just a tree.” Maybe the same applies to flags, smoke, clouds, and our vivid imaginations.

Jim Newton