Not inexplicable
A guy at work put something on the intranet about the US Navy 9-11 Pentagon memorial plaque (see a picture of it), saying that it has the first verse of The Navy Hymn - with, he says, "one line inexplicably missing".
The verse as on the plaque:
Eternal Father, Strong to save,And with the missing line restored:
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bid'st the mighty Ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
For those in peril on the sea.
Eternal Father, Strong to save,So, it seems to me to be totally explicable. Bearing in mind that this is, after all, a plaque to the memory of people who died (forget the "on the sea" disconnect, the Navy likes to pretend it's on a ship wherever it is, and the plaque is for "shipmates on eternal watch"), that line makes it clear as proverbial crystal that God didn't save them. God didn't answer the prayer "for those in peril".
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bid'st the mighty Ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to thee,
For those in peril on the sea.
And who wants to be reminded of that every time they walk past a memorial plaque?
Labels: freethought
2 Comments:
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At 12:51 AM, September 17, 2010
Barry Leiba had this to say...
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At 1:45 PM, September 17, 2010
The Ridger, FCD had this to say...
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<-- Older Post ^ Home Newer Post -->«And who wants to be reminded of that every time they walk past a memorial plaque?»
I do, actually. I think it does everyone a service to remind them that there's no one out there listening, so we might as well stop crying to thee-mptiness.
[Yes, I do get your point. I just thought I'd say....]
Indeed. But what I really find amazing is that this plaque so closely skirts actually saying "they died and God didn't save them". After all, anybody who knows that hymn will know - and note - the missing line.
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