Dear God! Am I missing the point?

Dear God:

(cc: Head Honcho Geography/Geology/Meteorological Depts)

Today I had the good fortune of being in the company of a few of your devout followers. They told me in no uncertain terms that the calamities of this year (katrnia, rita and now the earth quake) are a form of punishment that you are meting out to your creations for not following your commands in a manner that are entirely satisfactory to you.

Now, I am not sure who is your chief honcho of the geographic/geological department, but I wanted to bring to light certain facts that seemed to have escaped his and your attention.

Lets start with New Orleans first. As per your followers, your wrath was due to the rampant immorality in the city. After the hurricane and the subsequent flooding, I saw it on TV that the French Quarters were pretty much spared the worst. It was the 9th ward and other places inhabitied by poor blacks that were hit the hardest. You really need to talk to your head honcho for geography and demographics. Perhaps, his knowledge on the subject is still gleamed from books from 642 A.D. For next time, may I suggest Paris? Oh sorry, I forgot the recent fires to that were set to remind the Parisians about the righteous path.

Now, lets turn our attention to the recent graveyard aka Kashmir. I saw bodies of young children being pulled out of the rubble. I saw mothers grieving for their children. I saw old men beating their chest and lamenting the fact they were spared. Last I checked, the Heera Mandi was not in Muzaffarabad. If the goal is to teach humanity a ’lesson’ then may I suggest that you borrow precision guided missiles from George Bush and only target Heera Mandi in such a manner that spares the rest of the law-abiding, model Muslims of Lahore? This concept of "collateral damage" is just too ambigous and far reaching.

We call you the merciful, the bountiful, we believe that not even a leaf moves without your permission. So, perhaps, as per your followers, there is a method to this wrath? Perhaps, this is part of some grand scheme that a mere mortal like me does not understand?

I think I am better off believing that the earth quakes are accidents of nature, a natural course of earth’s evolution
and not a form of punishment. Can you imagine what my fellow human beings would call me if I killed a child just to teach his father a lesson? Can you please call these morons -- the so-called righteous devotees of yours -- and inform them that you had nothing to do with these calamities that took the lives of so many innocent people? I will feel much better.

Thanks,

Your Sincerely

P.S. I hope I don’t get punished for asking such brazen questions.