A God's Eye View of (and from) Red Meat.

There are three cartoon panels.

A man wearing an ecumenical collar is praying.

"Father, help me to truly see this world... not through my own eyes, but through your infinite all-encompassing love."

A voice from heaven says; "Okay...you asked for it. Go ahead and open your eyes."

The man twitches and his eyes fly open wide.

"Oh my goodness."

"Kind of like sniffing a couple hundred thousand magic markers while getting a slow sheet-lightening enema isn't it?" the voice from heaven says.

While the priest's hair stands on end he seems to plead; "Uh.. please make it stop now, lord.

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These are the scenes that unfold in a "Red Meat" cartoon (artist; Max Cannon) which I read almost ten years ago. Somewhere in all the cold and dusty boxes in our storage locker, this cartoon lies cut-out from the newspaper and pressed between other favorite clippings.

I felt a special affinity for this cartoon because it lays bare a cruel reality which I have pondered since my teens, in the idea that God sees ALL things.

Being omniscient, He wouldn't just see beautiful sunrises, birds singing on the wing and children frolicking on playgrounds with doting parents nearby; He would see all the meanness, degradation, suffering and tragedy that we experience and visit.

And seeing all of that, my friend, would be more horrific, revolting and sickening than any forensic science show or bloody gangster film.

Looking through the all seeing eye of God would be like having a billion video screens showing a mix of horror, action, tragi-drama, adventure, documentary and family films in never-ending ever-changing segues.

If a child dies every three seconds from the ravages of poverty in Africa alone (to quote a recent humanitarian movement ); it is hard to speculate what global statistics might be like if we expanded the scope to include all preventable deaths and horrific acts.

Being an unblinking witness to all of that would probably drive any of us to madness.

No wonder that God supposedly cherishes beautiful sunrises, birds singing and children laughing. In the context of everything else He witnesses they must make some deeply sweet repast amidst all the bile and gore.

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