Solomon's Private File #431
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 35 in this story, in the Spring of 2061.
Solomon's Private File #431 "Priest Defense"
START Page
work. I most like the biographies of the original writers of the
Gospels, even though those of the revisers were far more entertaining."
Grins. He said, "I didn't expect you to include the lost Gospels. They
were very interesting. The controversy over them makes them more er,
enticing." Grins. He said, "I would like all of this to be published.
May I write a forward?" I said, "Sure! Make it something I won't want
to rip to shreds, please." He laughed.
He said, "Our IT department has posed a question. We've had problems
with hackers, just as all large internet presences have on the
internet, but not this year." I said, "Same for other religions." He
said, "Why?" I said, "Our new web sites and TV channels were big
targets. They try to hack them, they need new computers." He grinned,
and said, "Do they suspect?" I said, "Some do. Some keep trying.
Expensively. Some have even organized DoS attacks. Didn't work. We
filter out multiple connections from the same IP addresses, and too
many from any one geographical location. We remove the programs that
cause that, when an attack is detected. No, we're not going to make
that public. Some hackers were going to, but we had a little talk with
them. Consequences were mentioned. One being that if it went public, we
would prevent ALL hacking. That killed that." He grinned, and said, "I
understand the threat of personal consequences, but that one, why won't
you do it anyway?" I said, "Hackers are useful in pushing the evolution
of IT science." He said, "Oh!" I said, "And many of them, after such
experience and learning, become the best of the fully employed
programmers. The world needs them, but carefully." He said with a
smile, "I understand better now. Thank you."
I said, "A man is thinking of murdering a Priest in Canada." He said,
"Will you let it happen?" I said, "The situation is undecided, and so,
I am, too. His reason is false, but he won't believe that. What causes
my lack of decision, is when he confronts the Priest, will the Priest
be able to dissuade him? That would be the best outcome of that
situation." He said, "Oh! I understand more of why you do things. I
would NOT want your responsibilities at all!" I said, "As if you have
none?" He said, "Oh, don't remind me!" Grins, and a hug.
A man walked into the office of the the Ascension of Our Lord Parish
in Westmount, Quebec, Canada. It was an hour after Sunday Mass and
Confessions were over. The Priest stood and said, "Hello John. How may
I help you?" John drew his pistol, and said, "You can die, is how you
can help me!" Priest said, "If that has to happen, please tell me why
it should be so. That's fair, isn't it?" He said, "You're sleeping with
my wife!" Priest said, "I'm not having sex with any women." John said,
"You are!" He pulled the trigger, and it just clicked. He turned the
gun around to look down the barrel, and I shifted in and took the gun
away from him. I said, "John, do you know how many people who've died
by accident, doing what you just did after a misfire? Incredibly
foolish of you." He collapsed onto the floor, laughing hysterically.
I said to the Priest, "I removed the primers from the cartridges." He
said, "Thank you, Solomon!" I said, "I knew he was planning this, but I
had hoped you would have been able to dissuade him." He said, "I agree
that would have been best, now that we no longer have heart attacks."
Grins. I helped John up, and said to him, "I wouldn't have stopped you,
if he had lied." He said, "Oh! He's not having an affair with my wife?"
I said, "A liar KNOWS that other people lie just as much as he does,
and probably more, but he's wrong. That applies to all sins. Do you
understand?" He said, "You're saying I'm an adulterer, so I thought she
was, but I was wrong?" I said, "So you're not foolish ALL the time." He
almost laughed, but the Priest had a difficult time holding back his
laughter. We stared at him, and he had to laugh.
I said, "Neither of you are expecting any of this. Good." Grins. I
said to John, "Your wife did come here to see Father Boyle, but it was
for a fully clothed reason. I think you can now guess what it was for.
Who would want to live with a man who will kill a Priest? Not to
mention your other sins." He nodded. I said, "Now we have to decide
what to do about this. This is not a Confessional, and is not covered
by Clerical privilege, not with me being here. You committed the
serious felony of attempted murder. The police should be informed. Or
should they? Hmm, the Pope is making suggestions and requests. Yes, I'm
showing him this. I told him it might happen." Priest said, "Would you
tell us of those comments?" I said, "No. I think you expected that." He
said, "I did, with some annoyance." Grins.
I said, "I'll tell you of one I very much agree with. John, you are
seriously behind in your Confessions. That needs to be corrected, and
with any Priest of your choosing." He said, "But you're not Catholic!"
I said, "True, now, but I have been. That's irrelevant. YOU'RE a
Catholic, so it's YOUR need, not mine. You'll feel better, too." He
nodded. I said, "So, how do both of you want to resolve this? Bear in
mind that a serious crime has been committed, and that has moral
consequences, even if I apply none myself." Priest said, "Crime against
man, I know. Against God as well?" I said, "As you are His, and it
happened in His house, yes, very much so, and you knew that. You just
wanted me to make it official." He tried not to grin.
I said, "Let's wait for the Pope to stop laughing." Bigger grins. I
nodded to the Priest, who said, "I request that we keep this to
ourselves, and not involve the police. Confession is required. John
should be given the opportunity to earn expiation through good deeds.
In his personal life, that means giving up adultery, and attending
private and couples marriage counseling, with me, or another
professional. For the criminal offense, there should be an extended
term of community service. Money will not be accepted as a
substitution. You can't buy the forgiveness of God for such a serious
thing." I said, "Sure. You don't want to start another Reformation."
Grins, with some irritation from the Priest. I said, "Paolo didn't
appreciate that one." Priest tried to conceal his grin at that.
I said, "What would the service entail?" He said, "Food pantry
stocking. Usher for services. Maintenance. Snow removal. Cleaning.
Assisting in our Faith First Program. All this three evenings a week,
and all day Sunday." I said to John, "For six months, extended with non
full compliance. And you give up all firearms. This is REAL work, John,
in service to your community. In exchange, we don't bring this to the
police, or make it public. And no consequence from me. All this can
change if you don't make this work. Prison is much worse. Will you do
this?" He said, "Will my wife have to know?" I said, "Couples
counseling will make that mandatory, and she'll have to know why you
will be here for much of your time, or she might be looking for a gun,
herself. Interesting expression. Has it occurred to you, that you
actually have a wife and children, and that they deserve your respect,
love, and care?"
He sighed, and said, "I've been bad." I said, "That's the first step
in correcting that. I recommend that you invite each of your children
in order, to be with you in your service here. Let them SEE you doing
good things. They knew you were being bad, better than you did. Show
them you're changing for real." He had some real tears, and said,
"Thank you Solomon! I'll do my best, I promise!" I said, "Words are
easy. Actions are the reality. Come to me for personal forgiveness." I
helped him sit after the Ki reinforced hug. I said to him, "It's going
to be difficult to tell her all this. Actually, just getting through it
Please do that." I said, "Here's the crystal. YOU give it to her. The
first test of your commitment to your new life. One more thing. It
contains a prohibition against her making this public, and you must
tell her that, or the crystal won't work at all for her. Her choice if
the wants to read it then. Yes, you can tell her it comes from me, but
be very careful not to lie. Plan ahead for what you'll say, is best.
Hmm, that way you'll know how badly you can follow a script. I sure
know how that works!" Chuckles.
He said, "What shall I do with the guns?" I said, "Anything lawful,
as long as they are not in your possession. As a felon with the use of
a gun, you would have lost your right to own them." He said, "Oh! I
see. I'll give them to my brother." I said, "Would be interesting how
you handle his questions." He said, "I agree." I said, "I would speak
with your Priest alone, now. Your family awaits you." He nodded, and
said to the Priest, "Father, I sincerely apologize for what I thought
of you, and what I intended to do." He said, "As a man, I accept." They
hugged. John left.
Priest said to me, "That was amazing! He may make a complete turn
around!" I said, "I'm not the Police. I don't punish people as the
criminal justice system does. I try to help people to improve
themselves. If he doesn't comply with the arrangement, the police can
have him. Should be some useful motivation in that." He said, "True,
but your words alone have helped him!" I said, "Now, a little, yes. But
words are temporary. Actual deeds are the reality that will change him.
And that's partially your job. He doesn't yet realize that this is
going to be much more work for you than him." He said, "I did, but
that's what I'm for. I can help that whole family!" I said, "A curate
would be of some help to you." He said, "It's very difficult to serve
as we should, as we are, but we're not large enough to rate one." I
said, "Pope is asking to meet with you. If you agree, I can port you.
After you recover your voice so you can answer. Er, after some more,
obviously." He had to laugh.
held him up, and said, "So, what do you think of the weather?" He
laughed. Then he said in surprise, "You wanted him to leave before, so
he wouldn't see this!" I said, "Tell me something I don't know." He
grinned. When he was ready, we ported to Paolo's office. There, Paolo
said to me, "I agree. That was amazing. Just causing them to laugh
after that!" I said, "A little secret. It didn't take much the first
time. Release of tension magnified it. And when you're known to be
funny, that can actually make it happen, more than when you're not
known for it, with almost anything that could be construed as funny.
People are predisposed to see what they expect, even if it isn't really
there. Jokes build the atmosphere, and work off each other, to increase
that. Take one successful joke out of the middle of a comedy set, and
say it to people not expecting to hear a joke, and they'll just stare
at you, where they would have laughed at it in the show. Yes, humor is
a science. Isn't that funny." Grins.
I said, "You two will have a better talk without me staring at you.
Let me know when the return port should happen." I bowed and shifted
out. 56 minutes later, they wanted me again. I said, after shifting
there, "Here I am. Past somebody's bed time. Your assistant keeps
biting his fingernails, he's going to need new fingers." Chuckles.
Paolo said, "You know that man is going to talk about you. You want
that, which is why you didn't prevent it." I said with a big grin, "I
love this. No." He was surprised. So was Father Boyle, but more. He
said, "He'll be talking about ME, too, and THAT'S what you want!" I
said to Paolo, "He's too humble to realize how heroic he was, and how
much that will impress John when he starts thinking straight. I'm
expected to do amazing things. Not the usual Parish Priest. They're
wrong. This shows it. They do it every day. Part of the cleric's job
description. Lead by example, isn't just talk." Father Boyle had tears
of humility. Pope Paolo, had tears of gratitude.
I said, "Time to port home?" It was, and I did that for him. Paolo
said, "I request that you update our crystals with this." I said, "As
expected. Done. Did you know that a lot of your Priests didn't join up
for the religious aspect, but just to serve others? A lot of them
didn't believe most of what you would assume they did. This is mostly
unique to your Denomination, being that it's the most structured.
That's changing, now that they know God is real." He said, "They
didn't?" I said, "Priests aren't stupid. They can see the
contradictions in the Bible, just like any other intelligent reader.
You know that's pointed out in the Seminaries, and so are the counter
arguments they can use when challenged. They're smart enough to know
that doesn't actually work. It's not exactly lack of faith, just
practical reality. It doesn't really have anything to do with the
belief in God and Jesus. Most of them DO have that. I know, that's a
relief." Grins.
He said, "I've prepared the forward I mentioned." I said, "I know of
it. Good one. I'll include it. What comes first, digital, or print?" He
said, "Who get's the profits?" I said, "How about we split down the
middle. My charity and your Church." He said, "It's a deal! Print
first." I said, "I know, maximize profit. Squeeze them dry!" Grins and
chuckles. We hugged.
Mom said, "I have to admit I didn't see where you were going with
that action." I said, "It's easy to get caught up in the now of the
action, and not consider the effects for the future, even when you know
I work for that. For them, this will improve the whole community, and
it really needed it." She said, "You know more." Galya said, "The
children?" I said, "Of course. Severely broken home, frustration, anger
at the police and Church. You know that would have turned them bad. Now
there are a lot of good things in their future, and from them, too.
Good for the Priest, too. He's going to have help for as long as he's
there, which won't be all that long, now that he's come to the
attention of the boss. Probably about two years more, there. Butterfly
effect in full operation." They expressed the usual wows.
As we have our own publishing house, mostly me, the book could go
straight to the printers, after I did the covers and things, and from
there to the distributers. With my name on it, we didn't have to
advertise. Reporters did that. Some initial reviews were cautious, but
after that, they were very good. They loved my writing, and historians
loved it for the history. Religious scholars loved it, but didn't want
to commit to that in public. I was asked to do a show about it. I
declined, because I didn't have anything more to say about it. It's all
in the book.
Boyle's almost killer is doing well in his community service, and so
is his family. Their oldest child, a daughter, overheard her parents
talk about what had happened. She stormed into the living room, and
said, "You did what!" Father said, "Oops!" Mother laughed. Father told
her the whole story. Daughter calmed down, and said, "So that's why
you've been doing so much work for the church. You HAVE to." He said,
"True, but now that I've been doing it, and with you and the other
kids, if I didn't have to, I would still do it. It's been good for us.
It's brought us closer. I have to love that. Doesn't it feel good to
help others?" She said, "It does. Wow!" She looked up and around, and
said, "Thank you Solomon, for everything!" I gave them my love, and
they almost cried, with a lot of good feelings.
END Page
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant
|
|