"I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing." ~Socrates

German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has been elected Pope, after only 2 days of the first conclave of this millenium. He turned 78 just this last Saturday, older than John Paul II when he was elected. He was the favorite going into the conclave, and everyone in Rome seems ecstatic. I wonder, though, what will happen when such a traditionalist of the Catholic dogma and the calls for liberalism on the American Catholic front collide. I wonder how relations with the Jews will change, as he is rumored to have been a Hitler Youth...
I must admit, I was a little angry when CBS started flashing the Special Report in the middle of The Price Is Right. It's not like I get to have sick days so much that I can catch it all that often....
It was worth it though.

These past 10 years has been full of a few political firsts:
1st election of a president (Bill Clinton)
1st funeral for a former president (ie: Reagan)
1st funeral for a pope (John Paul II)
1st election of a pope (Benedict XVI)

These elections were not all that similar, however, the funerals were. It is a strange phenomena, but when public figures die they seem to be turned into saints.
At Ronald Reagan's funeral, he was praised non-stop for his presidency. No mention of Iran Contra. No mention of the economic crash. No mention of his bad policy. Too much mention of his ending the cold war...though really much of that honor belonged to John Paul II.
John Paul's death brought much perfection to his character, as well. Though he did nothing about the sex scandals that popped up all over the Catholic church, other than pay out some cash. He even promoted the Boston Cardinal, whose diocese was one of the most disturbing.
Don't get me wrong, they were both good guys but they were no saints. They were not heroes. They were just a couple of fallible humans who acted as heads of state for a while. I don't understand where they earned the right of being remembered as perfect men, perfect souls, when this is an impossibility.
I think there is more honor in remembering people as they really were than in erasing parts of their past in an effort to purify them.