I wouldn’t have expected an op-ed essay on God to be in the LA Times, but it is. Perhaps because they think the whole thing is a satire, they included it.

The essay is well worth reading, but this part made me, a teacher, laugh.

But God, Sir, in Your manner of teaching us about life’s consequential nature, isn’t death a bit … um … extreme, pedagogically speaking? I know the lesson that we’re studying is difficult. But dying is more homework than I was counting on. Also, it kind of messes up my vacation planning. Can we talk after class? Maybe if I did something for extra credit?

It is a serious subject. I don’t think he is being profane. I think he is approaching serious subjects with the laugh that lets us look them full in the face.

I laughed out loud when I read:

I have, of all the inglorious things, a malignant hemorrhoid. What color bracelet does one wear for that? And where does one wear it?