The Unclad Soul

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,  for they shall be filled. Suzanne Collins’ bestselling novels and now movies, “The Hunger Games,” are set in a dark future following the moral and economic destruction of North America. Survivors comprise the wealthy and the poor and the vast distance between them. The wealthy class hunger for entertainment and have devised a cruel form of it requiring games of death. “Tributes” are selected in a national lottery, mostly poor teens, who are pitted against other teens in dangerous settings that eventually allow only one surviving winner. The rest are killed off by each other one by one. The poor class of course sees no humor or entertainment in these games and hunger instead for survival, for justice, for some way to end the madness. It’s a world of twisted values and wasted living. There are, however, parallels to this and the words of Jesus. There have always been those who crave wealth and power, who tolerate m...

Have you seen the elaborate, stylish, opulent television commercial for Cartier? The original commercial seemed to go on forever, a full three minutes. They have shortened it now, but it still drips with ostentatiousness. It is conspicuously pretentious in spite of the beautiful music and the sleek panther and the stunning scenery and the elegant model dressed in a striking red gown. The commercial takes the viewer through an amazing montage of dreamy landscapes and famous cities and spectacular stunts while moving past a giant expensive watch and finally to a glittering diamond bracelet modeled by the woman in red. Each time I see it I keep wondering who the target audience is. It seems to be such an over the top expression of unbridled greed and materialism gone ape. In a time when much of the world is starving and millions are still out of work here at home it seems bizarre that Cartier would spend what has to be millions on a television commercial celebrating 165 years in...