Office building windows that thousands of visitors believed bore the image of the Virgin Mary were discovered broken Monday, police said.
The three top panes that showed what appeared to be the Virgin Mary's veiled head were broken. The damage was discovered when a ministry worker arrived Monday morning and it is believed the damage was done overnight.
First off, you have no idea what a horrid eyesore this thing was. And what a destructive waste. The building was a thriving office building. It used to house a credit union and other offices. They used to - and here's the important part - paint xmas murals on the windows. Then, ooooh...a "miracle" came to town. A chemical reaction between the paints they used to use, the glass surface itself and our horrid water here in Florida made a permanent oil slick on the glass. You know, like the rainbow you see in puddles of grease and oil? Same thing, only on glass. All of a sudden though, it was the fucking virgin mary. And it was a "sign from god." *rollseyes* So the nice people who owned the building and who had jobs there eventually had to move. Why? Oh well, it'd because the gullible xtians who came by the truckload - to the tune of half a million the first month - clogged an already very busy intersection, the only N-S route, and flooded the area with their need to see the miracle for themselves. As someone who's driven by the ugly grease stain many times, let me tell you, there was nothing miraculous let alone interesting about it. Eventually, the company had to close. The building went into horrid disrepair - boarded up windows, parking lot gone to seed - as they charged money, set up plastic chairs and put up a monstrosity of a crucifix to keep them coming to the site. (and for those who couldn't make the trip, there's even live webcam feed to ensure they keep pimping themselves out!)
Secondly, even if you are christian, this is just another example of the idiocy of blind faith. Not to mention idolocy. Making a lovely idol out of - and say it with me now - a grease stain on the side of a building. No, that's not Jesus on your potato chip and it's not a holy sign from god when you get a chemical stain on a building either. It's shit like this that makes all us non-xtians think all you xtians are looney. Going to visit the site of a building. Oh please. Surely your faith has more merit then an oil slick. And please tell me that you don't actually put your faith in some panes of glass. I've never seen the Goddess in a twinkee, but I see the beauty in the world each and everyday and that impresses the hell out of me a lot more then some silly "sign" ever would.
Thirdly, these people have made MILLIONS off this crap. Hawking out tickets and prayer crap and official photos of the "blessed event." Yeah. Lining their pockets because these people's faith is so pathetic, it requires trinkets to give it meaning.
The entire lot has been a horrible eyesore - and not just because of the building itself. It's just another horrible and embarrassing view of Clearwater right up there with the Scientology zombies that patrol in lockstep and khaki uniform in Occupied Downtown Clearwater.
So, viva to the vandals. It's about damned time. Maybe we can all get back on with our lives now and stop feeling the need to gawk at an office building. Well, until the next time someone gets a bag of "blessed" potato chips anyway.
~ flowers bloom near Memory and Dream
at 3/1/2004 05:04:05 PM ~
~
