Last night I turned on HBO for The Husband. He likes to watch The Sopranos and we only have cable in our bedroom so I had it all turned on and ready for him at 9pm while I flipped through the new Wired issue. When I turned it on, the tail end of some sort of medical show about the military in Baghdad was on... sorta a reality ER military style. I was only catching the tail end but apparentyl a Marine was dying, they showed some moving footage of the doctor trying to encourage the Marine to hang out and then after he passed away, the doctor asking the chaplain about religious preference (apparently to determine what they should be doing for the Marine). The chaplain replied that the Marine had listed "No Religious Preference" and that, therefore, there would be no last rites; however, he then put on his chaplain robe and the room proceeded to "pray" for the Marine. The prayer, however, was not generic. They brought in the Christian God to the prayer, The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit... and it left me wondering... no religious preference -- what does that mean? The Marine had clearly identified that he had no preference so does that mean he is leaving his preference up to whomever happens to be in the room? What if the people in the room were Jewish, would he have had a Jewish prayer? What if they were Hindu or Muslim or something else? I guess I found it sorta, mhmmm.... disconcerting, that there was no hesitation on the part of the chaplain to do a Christian "prayer" for the man's soul... what if he had said Buddhism, would they still have done the Christian thing? They probably don't have any extra monks laying around. I dont' know... it's not like I would be opposed to someone standing over me after I'm dead saying a prayer to their God but it did leave me wondering about the supposed wishes of the dead and what's respectful and appropriate. Clearly I haven't worked out how I feel about it but it did get me thinking nonetheless.

I'm on the train to L.A.... congested and miserable... another hour to go... some attorney in the seat next to me... I'm sure she loves all the sniffling and coughing.