Improvements.

I have long thought about what has V II introduced that was, actually, an improvement.

I think I have, finally, found one.

This morning, at Mass, as I was observing the traffic wardens so expertly directing the masses of faithful toward communion, it dawned on me how things have changed since my time as a child.

You might not remember those years, but I do.

Constant traffic accidents in church. Old men crashing against frail grandmas, sending them to the hospital, or to the cemetery. Young boys turning without indicating, and causing countless tragedies when they impacted against pregnant mothers-to-be. Impetuous young men rushing to communion in flagrant violation of the speed limit, causing a vast number of bereavements. Plus, there was the constant anguish of hearing the sirens of the ambulances, and the disruption of Mass that all this caused.

I remember that crossroads were particularly dangerous. When the stream of people coming from one side of the church merged with the stream of people coming from the other side, a funeral was never far away.

Plus, you need to remember that people, in those time, were far more rigid than they are today. Therefore, they could break bones (including the neck’s) much more easily.

This was clear for anyone to see. A constant tragedy of blood and despair.

Nobody did anything to prevent the carnage.

And then V II came. With V II, the Traffic Wardens were introduced. These brave men and women decided to risk the ultimate sacrifice in order to put an end to the massacre.

At the beginning, many of them fell in the line of church duty. But it was not in vain. In time, it worked.

Today, you can go to Mass safe in the knowledge that, thanks to the Traffic Wardens, you will never risk hospital, or death, in the dangerous stretch between your pews and the priest distributing communion.

Yep. The more I think about it, the more I am persuaded that this is a huge improvement.

It must have been the Spirit Of Vatican II, you see…