Sister Reodica, and Other Such Concerns

Hmmm.

Sistr Reodica predicted d tsunamis. Shes nw predictng ther wil be an ntnsity 9 earthquake @ 5pm. April 14, 2005 in mnla. Pls. pray hard. bettr safe than sori

I got this text message right in the middle of the first of two corporate presentations, and it irritated the heck out of me. Just an Intensity 9 earthquake? You'd think we'd rate at least a ten or so.

However, I have to admit that Sister Reodica - whoever she is - is smarter than we'd probably give her credit for. In articles posted around the Net, she admits that the prophecy wasn't her own, but was given to her by a passing 'visionary'. I suppose that that way, if Manila didn't fall screaming into the sea, she could always tell people that the guy was probably cracked in the head, and that she didn't believe it for even a second.

It's marvelous, the way life and religion go so well together. So many people make so many predictions in the name of one god or another (although God - the one with the capital "G" - seems to get the lion's share) that we essentially content ourselves with excuses as to why these predictions fail. In the case of Sister Reodica and her visionary's earthquake, we're told that prayer and repentance will allow the catastrophic event to pass us over. Considering that it's past five and I haven't felt the earth shatter underneath my feet yet, then the rest of the country must have dropped to their knees in religious ecstasy in the last hour.

Or maybe the prediction was full of crap in the first place. But we're not going to go in that direction, are we? We'll probably blame the alleged 'visionary', who will never be properly identified. Or we'll praise the sudden devoutness of the nation in the last few minutes. Or we'll grumble a bit, and then go about our daily lives without doing anything about it.

I'm eating a cheeseburger right now. After spending four hours trotting between two straight meetings, our marketing team decided that it was worth passing by McDonalds before heading back to the office, and I agree whole-heartedly. Besides, if a major earthquake really was going to happen, I was going to face it with a cheeseburger, fries and a Coke in hand.

It's half an hour past five. The earthquake's late. I guess you just can't trust earthquakes nowadays.

I'm still eating my cheeseburger, albeit a little more slowly now. Maybe Sister Reodica's visionary's god is on Daylight Savings Time or something.