Two days ago I was enjoying Times Square (just a block away from my hotel) after an invigorating but exhausting day of meetings at Biologos. Crowded with passerby, honking taxis, street performers, and the iconic flashing neon and video screens, it felt like you were in the center of the world.
A day later I hear that the Boston Marathon bombers had been planning for Times Square to be their next target. It is chilling to think how easily it could have been.
How quickly everything can change.
One is often reminded of this fact when one finds references to contemporary individuals in book and film. You see, while the book or film remains the same, time marches on and carries the individual with it, often rendering that fixed reference irrelevant in surprising and disturbing ways.
A couple years ago I noted the example of a Christian comedy video where the comedian joked that we know God must exist because the Crocodile Hunter (Steve Irwin) is still alive. Shortly after the video was made Mr. Irwin was killed, stung by the barb of a stingray. Now a joke that had once seemed funny was rendered toxic, and the whole comedy routine with it. The distributer was left with boxes of DVDs he couldn’t sell. (See the article here.)
Last summer I finished the manuscript for my forthcoming book on heaven and sent it off to Baker. A few weeks ago Baker sent me the galleys for my review along with a list of suggested alterations to the text. In one case they flagged a positive reference I had made to the sprinter Oscar Pistorius. I had written the reference last August when Pistorius was second only to Nelson Mandela as the most beloved of South Africans. But now accused of murdering his girlfriend he too was toxic. I summarily dropped the reference.
And just yesterday I received an email from a gentleman who kindly read through the manuscript of that same book on heaven. He greatly enjoyed the book but he pointed out that Roger Ebert, who I quote in the text, just died a couple weeks ago, and it might be wise to make reference to the fact in the text.
Of course when I sent him the manuscript three weeks ago I never thought Ebert would have passed away before the book would hit the shelves next fall.
And it leaves one wondering, what other contemporary cultural references in a text will be rendered obsolete in a moment of time? Which esteemed lives will suddenly fall into ignominy? Which folk who now walk in our midst will suddenly be gone, lost to us forever?
How quickly everything can change.
