Tweety Bird and Jesus

This morning I opened up my email and found yet another "forward" from an acquaintance of mine. She has my email address because we both belong to the same organization, but I rarely get any email from her related to that. However, a few days a week she sends me a "forward."

In general, I'm not a big fan of "forwards." They're like the chain letters of the Internet world. I've been told in "forwards" that if I don't forward them to nine people, I don't love Jesus. Other times I've learned that deleting this "forward" means I'm not patriotic.

The email I received this morning opened up with a cute picture of Tweety Bird and then the telltale all-caps, 3-different-font, brightly-colored text. (At least this time the sender cared enough to delete the email address that had sent it to her and to address it to a BCC list!) The email described an encounter with Jesus, as if he had come into the room with the sender, and then informed me that He was being sent to my house. I should not allow Him to sleep there, I was told, but instead I should send Him on to other people.

I just don't have patience for these things. Even though the sentiment is nice, I don't feel like there's a personal connection when one of these is passed along. And while I might have my reasons for being a little cranky this morning, which may make my reaction to this email a little over the top, it was a long time coming. I've used the internet long enough that I've seen (over and over again) most of the "forwards" that are going around.

My love for God, my country, and my family and friends has nothing to do with whether I forward an email. And I think the inspiration in the story about Jesus was more than a little diluted by the Tweety-bird opener.