Or “Things happen for a reason.”
Some of them do, some of them happen for reasons we may not understand until much later, and some of them have no known reason at all.
ETA: I realized this was a zombie thread when I saw the post that was obviously made when Christopher Reeve was still alive.
And by extension, “It’s all part of God’s plan.”
Oh, really? The supposedly all-loving God has some master plan, that includes innocent people suffering? Or when some nutjob shows up with a gun at a school and mows down a bunch of kids, that’s all just part of the Grand Scheme? Give me a fucking break. Why does anyone believe such nonsense?
The late Christopher Hitchens is often admiringly quoted for having said “I have one consistency, which is being against the totalitarian – on the left and on the right.” Gosh, what an ideology-transcending principled maverick, huh?
Welllll… not really? I’m reminded of the line in Tom Lehrer’s “The Folk Song Army” where the narrator declares “We all hate poverty, war and injustice, Unlike the rest of you squares!”
In fact, though, being against poverty, war and injustice—and totalitarianism—is pretty much the default baseline position for any decent and rational person. If anti-totalitarianism is the “one consistency” of your political principles, then your principles are pretty incoherent.
Copy and pasted from another thread here:
I’ve told this story here before and probably will again: Shortly after Sandy Hook, my Episcopal priest was at a community event with his family. He overheard a little girl ask her mother, “Why did that man shoot all those kids?” and Mom replied, “Sweetheart, God needed more angels.” My pastor introduced himself, and told that woman that while he doesn’t know why it happened either, the God he believes in DOES NOT arrange the mass murder of children to make angels. He was so forceful, several people, including his own wife, nearly called 911 on him. He also rewrote his sermon for the next day.
The way I always put it, there’s always a reason for everything, but sometimes it’s a stupid reason.
It’s still usually helpful to know what the reason is, though.
It’s the important things in life that matter.
D’oh!
That’s what they all say. They all say “D’oh!”
Lorna “Angels in My Hair” Byrne is a Catholic Irishwoman. She keeps telling grieving parents that according to official Catholic doctrine, dead children’s souls do not turn into angels. They remain human souls. It’s pop religion that spread the concept of dead children being angels.
“Everything will be OK in the end. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end.”
This one makes me stabby.
By an amazing coincidence, that quote appeared about an hour ago
in a book I’m currently reading ! Apparently John Lennon said it.