Who is the Greatest
by Gilbert Oskaboose

The greatest human being of the 20th century had to be Muhammed Ali. He was the "greatest". He floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee - and hammered his way into the hearts of millions of people around the world. Strange but in anywhere else except boxing administering a savage beating to someone else could earn you some serious time behind bars.

The most despicable excuse for a human being in the 20th century had to be Adolph Hitler. His name and vile legacy will live on in infamy as long as human beings exist. He destroyed the lives of millions - and inadvertently helped create the modern state of Israel. Interesting how he helped to fulfill an ancient biblical prophecy. The Lord does work in mysterious ways, eh?

All the rest of us mere mortals fit in somewhere along the continuum between these two immortal giants.

Canadians barely made the list. Indian Country even less so. Jim Thorpe and Tommy Prince made it somewhere in there far behind Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandella. Pierre Eliot Trudeau and Lester Pearson made the list. Vine Deloria Jr. made it.

Guess we all have our own notions of what makes a hero. My own personal heroes are paramedics, police officers and firefighters who put in on the line everyday to help others - with damn little recognition, financial or otherwise, of their heroism. Teachers are more heroes scarcely recognized in modern day societys hustle and bustle.

Strange how a brain-light jock hockey player chasing a few ounces of frozen rubber around the ice or a brain-dead musician screeching and cavorting across a stage can "earn" millions of dollars and the adulation of millions, yet a good teacher helping mold the minds of generations is barely recognized. Where the hell are our priorities?

I have strange heroes: the gang from Mash, the gang from Cheers and the wacky characters of Fraser. Jean Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise Second Generation have to be up there among the greatest. If a heaven exist I hope there will be room for this gallant crew of explorers and idealists - and human actors. They are absolutely awesome. Check out a few shows and find out for yourself.

Biggest loss of the 20th century has to be my own inability to find God. Ten years in a residential school, ten long years under the loving strokes of Jesuit strap has cured me permanently of any form of religiosity. Ten years of Jesuit physical and sexual abuse, of excessive and mindless brutality and inappropriate behavior from "men of God" has robbed me forever of ever holding a belief system.

Why is it so important to me? Was it something planted in my head since the foundations of Time or is it residual clutter left over from my time with the Blackrobes? Where is my "mustard-seed" of faith? Where is my small measure of faith... a simple ability to believe?

I've spoken to God a million times or more, especially as an innocent child. There has never been a single answer. Only the silence. What does that silence mean? There was no one out there to hear me? That I was unworthy to be answered? What?

I trust this small admission of my "ungodliness" will not bring the millions out of the woodwork who claim to have an "intimate, personal" relationship with the Creator. Im not really interested in hearing from you or listening to your blatant lies about knowing God first hand.