Why I am Going To Hell
Last week, while surfing the CNN website for ways that I can make a difference in the lives of starving orphans and a detailed breakdown of the latest stock market fluctuations (by which I mean skimming the entertainment section for the previous night’s American Idol results since I missed it and forgot to set the DVR), I saw this headline:
Another racy Prejean photo emerges; site promises more
And I was surprised that Sister Helen Prejean, the human rights activist brought to my attention (as are so many important humanitarian heroes) by Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, and a touching but probably somewhat overblown biopic, was posing for racy photos. So of course I clicked through and learned that Miss California has the same last name as Sister Helen (no relation). Miss California, incidentally, feels it’s very important to provide scantily-clad photos of herself to the public in order to convert The Gays to heterosexuality before they try to get married. Or something like that. Like I said, I was just trying to make sure Adam hadn’t been voted off.
Honest mistake, right? Same last name, read the story, got a little chuckle out of my misinterpretation. Well, that’s not why I’m going to hell.
For the following day or two, I’d see the name in headlines, and every time I would first think of the nun, and then remind myself that it was the pageant contestant. And I chuckled and figured I couldn’t be the only person making this connection, right? So I decided to share the laugh! Of course! So I told Jeff, and he said, “huh!? Oh yeah. Funny.” Which was not particularly satisfying.
So of course I posted it to Twitter:
Shocked that Sister Helen Prejean (of Dead Man Walking fame) would take “racy photos.” Also, wouldn’t have pegged her as a pageant type.
Kind of funny, no? Not my very best tweet ever, but if anyone else had made the same mistake, maybe they’d laugh! I would have laughed if someone else had posted it. And even that probably wouldn’t have sent me straight to hell.
But then, just a few hours later, I got this reply:
playproject@Blythe – where did you see this about Sr. Helen?
And I clicked through to the Twitter account, and then to the website.
And yes, indeed, it’s an organization that works with Sister Helen to produce the play “Dead Man Walking” in schools and they thought I’d actually read somewhere that their heroine had been competing for a pageant title AND had released nudie photos to the media.
And I had to reply and tell them I’d been making a lame joke at a nun’s expense. And they were nice and gracious in their reply and now they’re following my updates. Either because they like my sense of humor or so they can monitor my tweets for more evidence that I’m defaming Sister Helen.
And that’s why I’m going to hell.
LOL. Every time I see that name (which has been far, far too often) I think of the nun, too. Hilarious that you would be taken seriously, however inadvertently. Oh well, hell should be a lot more fun, really.
I’m a firm believer that God has a sense of humor. (And, really, this is so hilarious)
This is one of the best Twitter-related stories ever. They were about to go all clean-up PR on you! Heh.
And now this story reminds me of another (random!) one, wherein Amanda was just kicked off Bravo’s “Make Me A Supermodel” one week after saying something to the effect of, “Like, no offense, but I don’t want my son to be gay, so I make sure to parade around naked in front of him all the time.”
I’m so glad to know I’m not the only one who thought Sr. Helen was an exhibitionist.
As paths to Hell go, that’s a pretty good one. So much better for Hell Small Talk than the old “killled, coveted, and took name in vain” stuff.