Religious leaders said count your blessings

While in Bethlehem

An icon of Jesus blinked,

And off the coast of Africa,

Passengers of a doomed airliner wept and prayed

Before the plane crumbled

Spewing them into the sea.

In New York, a distraught mother

Tossed her children—one by one—

From a 14-story housing project

Then followed them in flight;

And in New Jersey,

Child abuse was blamed for a young man’s insanity;

His father buried him and his brother alive,

In order to teach his sons “reality.”

The governor of Georgia gave his staff—and himself—

All nice raises,

While 6,000 jobs were added to the local economy,

All for minimum wage.

And Ted Turner bought another 100,000 acres,
this time in Arizona,

As Oprah Winfrey, the richest woman in America,

Shared her latest diet with the multitudes,

And the homeless population continued to rise.

Record-breaking crowds were expected to converge on the malls

To ring in the holiday season;

Yet there was an anticipated shortage of the year’s hottest items:

Big screen TVs, CD ROM modems, and Gucci look-alike purses;

And the White House held its traditional lighting of the tree,

While religious leaders said count your blessings,

And in Bethlehem,

An icon of Jesus blinked.