Deep Thoughts

When I started this blog a couple of months back, it's purpose was to give me an outlet to take a lighter-side look at sports, women, music, cool gadgets and anything else that strikes me on a particular day.

This will entry will be an exception to the rule.

With this post, I wanted to take a look at something of a little more importance, something that has some real substance to it. I'm going to talk about faith (or lack there of), life and death.

What prompted this is blog entry is a story that I read Friday afternoon on the Boston.com website. It was a story regarding the re-runs that ran the previous evening of the show 'The Office' and how at the end of one of the shows, during the credits, there was a clip of this kid from Newton, Nathan Alden Robinson, playing the theme song from the 'The Office' (his favorite show) on piano.

Unfortunately, Robinson, 15, passed away on March 14 from complications from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, pneumonia and influenza. I did not know Robinson, or anyone in the Robinson family, but nevertheless the story really moved me. I think it moved many others as well as there were over 18,000 views of his 30-second YouTube performance of 'The Office' theme song in four hours, from Friday afternoon till Friday evening.

It got me to thinking that here's a 15-year-old kid, that had barely begun to scratch the surface of his life and he essentially died from the flu (and I understand that I'm probably being over simplistic regarding his illness).

Reading Robinson's story combined with the fact that I have recently read a lot of information regarding the Jimmy Fund and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (for the Rally Against Cancer with Dustin Pedoria fundraiser) it has got me thinking about a larger question?

If God is so merciful (which we are told every Saturday or Sunday that He is) then why are children like Robinson or children at the Dana Farber passing away?

A counterpoint to that could well be, "If God wasn't merciful or forgiving, then why did He create people who have the knowledge and skills to help others who are ill?"

My question back would be, "If God was so powerful, then why would he create sick kids in the first place? Then there would be no need to create doctors who specialize in treating sick children."

A friend of mine has summed it up perfectly, asking, "Why is God in the business of making three-foot boxes (coffins)?"

Supposedly, God judges us based on sin (and punishes us accordingly). These are kids - how have they sinned? What sins against human kind (or in the eyes of God) have they committed? And aren't your sins supposed to be forgiven? I can't make out a lot of sense (or God's plan) in Robinson's passing and I'm sure his family hasn't been able to either.

After reading Nathan Robinson's obituary it made me wonder how God in all of His infinite wisdom could take someone with as much potential and as much to look forward to in his life as Robinson had.

Looks like God made a mistake on March 14. Maybe He's not so infallible after all.

Rest in Peace Nathan Robinson.