Friday, April 18, 2008

Are New Yorkers Sinners?


The Pope, the Holy Father himself, is in town tonight. He's had a busy day today, addressing the UN General Assembly, going to a Jewish Synagogue, then leading a service at church tonight. He has a big day tomorrow, going to a parade and everything, so I doubt he'll be hitting the nightclubs tonight or be able to go see a show. (Too bad. He won't be able to see Rent before it closes or go to Mamma Mia!)

But I hope his Holiness has a nice time here. Even if our city is full of sinners.

Not long ago the Vatican released a list of new sins. We all (or should know) the original, old-school, seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride. It goes without saying that most New Yorkers are guilty of a lot of these sins (particularly lust, greed, and pride. We are greedy for money to we can get the sex that we lust for and we're prideful of our ability to get both).

As this article indicates, the new sins include contributing to poverty and social inequality and using drugs. I don't think most New Yorkers intentionally contribute to poverty -- who wants people to be poor? -- but the huge differences in wealth in this town certainly lead to social inequality. So I guess we're sinners there. And when it comes to drugs? Well ... this is the town of Bright Lights, Big City. We like to get high. So we're sinful there too.

Oh well. I guess New Yorkers are sinners. So one sinner to another, let's hope the Pope will forgive us.

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