What about the Geese?

By Matt Fiore

For those living under a rock or for those that have been French kissing their Barack Obama posters for the last two weeks, US Airways Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River following engine failure due to a flock of geese that flew into the engine shortly after take off.  Amazingly, the pilot was able to remain calm and landed the aircraft on the Hudson River with no fatalities.  It was almost two weeks ago, but one of the CNN.com headlines still sticks out in my mind:

“God was certainly looking out for all of us”

Most people probably read over this quote by one of the passengers and made nothing of it.  The simple fact that the majority of planes in similar situations would have had a disastrous outcome makes one wonder how this particular plane was so fortunate.  However, the logic behind crediting a god for the events is terribly naive.  After reading the title of the CNN article, one has to ask oneself, “Is this passenger actually saying that his god was looking out for him and his fellow passengers, but stood by and watched hundreds of horrific plane crashes that have occurred over the years?  Does this man really want his god to take credit for such atrocities?  The logical explanation for the plane crash is simply that the expert pilot was able to remain calm and collected as the series of events unfolded and was able to maneuver the plane to safety, because the geese did not cause sufficient damage to make the pilot lose control.  No god involved.

Another question that this man should answer is what about the geese?  The geese that were brutally slaughtered by the plane were all creations of god, according to believers.  I can’t imagine what this innocent group of god’s creations could have done to deserve such a horrid death.  Perhaps they missed mass last Sunday.  Regardless, this god has an apparent mysterious vengeance for geese and felt the need to put a “hit out” on the flock.

In closing, one of three conclusions must be drawn concerning this situation.  One is that god was certainly looking out for only the passengers that day.  Second, god was in the mood for some entertainment that day and wondered what it would look like if a flock of geese collided with tons of lightweight metal at a high speed.  Or third, there is no god.  You decide…