good morning Hank it's Tuesday it's
question Tuesday the day that I answer
real questions about the big questions
let's get right to it I know you were
once a hospital chaplain how does
religion influence your life now nobody
likes my answer to this question but
here it is religion is an important part
of my life I like going to church but I
also find the way that people often talk
about religion just like completely
baffling for example I'm just not that
interested in questions about like
whether God really exists or whether
Heaven is really real or whatever but I
do get really excited about questions
like what meaning can we find to human
life together while we're here and can
that meaning hold up to scrutiny does
the meaning acknowledge and embrace the
humanity of all people can we use the
meaning to support and lift up the most
vulnerable people in our community those
are interesting questions to me as for
my personal theology Dietrich Bonhoeffer
summed it up very well in a single
sentence God is weak and powerless in
the world and that is exactly the way
the only way in which God can be with us
and help us when you use quotes do you
have them memorized or do you need to
google them most of them I need to
Google but that one I do have memorized
so when you go to church D sweet Holy
infant baby Jesus that is enough talk
about religion can't we talk about
something less controversial like
politics and money and sex
how did stegasaurus reproduce not the
sex question I was expecting but all
right so the short answer is that we
don't know but you're right to be
concerned
one study using computer models found
that a male stegasaurus would risk
castration if he tried to mount a female
from behind so they may not have done it
that way there are lots of theories
about this the female stegasaurus may
have lain on her side they may have also
like backed up into each other but we
don't really know all right that's
enough sex let's move on to love do you
believe in true love not really but I do
believe in something I find even more
miraculous and beautiful which is that
two people who were not created
explicitly for each other can still find
a way to share a lifetime of joy and
grief and wonder and hope we spend all
this time in our culture talking about
falling in love we should talk more
about being in love and growing in love
and how the decades of that can really
be amazing all right let's move on to
politics my friends don't want to vote
because they say it won't make a
difference how do I convince them
otherwise so young people are much less
likely to vote than olds like myself and
I just don't think it's a coincidence
that the structures of power
also less likely to listen to young
people voting is one of the central ways
in our system of government that you can
force the structure of power to listen
to you so vote register your friends to
vote even registered your enemies to
vote what's your opinion on the current
2020 presidential candidates my opinion
is that the presidential election is
over 450 days away and this multi-year
obsession with the presidential election
is bad for us life in Canada the last
election cycle lasted 78 days and they
seemed to be doing fine I mean how long
does it take to earn somebody's position
on health funding and education policy
it doesn't take 450 days all right
that's enough politics let's move on to
death how do you feel about being in the
sunset period of your career um good
yeah no fine no worries he said staring
into the middle distance as the fact of
his irrelevance washed over him have you
thought about what you want your last
words to be how old do you people think
I am although yes yes I have thought
about my last words look when it comes
to last words I think you have to get
pretty lucky like there's no way the
writer Paul Claudel could have planned
to say doctor do you think it was the
sausage as his last words but those are
still what perfect last words but
honestly my friend Amy Krauss Rosenthal
who died in 2017 always ended
conversations by saying bye I love you
thank you and that is what I would like
to say to the people who've loved me at
the end of my life bye I love you
thank you that noted just based on
frequency there's a pretty good chance
my actual last words will be Hank I'll
see you on Friday