I'm resending this message, since I originally hit the wrong button.
----- Original Message -----
From: "gammajoe8" <gammajoe@netzoom.com>
Newsgroups: alt.atheism
Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2004 1:15 AM
Subject: Guess who
Years ago a hardworking man took his family from New York State to
Australia to take advantage of a work opportunity there. Part of this
man's
family was a handsome young son who had aspirations of joining the
circus as a trapeze artist or an actor. This young fellow, biding his
time
until a circus job or even one as a stagehand came along, worked at the
local shipyards which bordered on the worse section of town.
Walking home from work one evening this young man was attacked by
five thugs who wanted to rob him. Instead of just giving up his money
the young fellow resisted. However they bested him easily and proceeded
to beat him to a pulp.
They mashed his face with their boots, and kicked and beat his body
brutally with clubs, leaving him for dead.
When the police happened to find him lying in the road they assumed
he was dead and called for the Morgue Wagon.
On the way to the morgue a policeman heard him gasp for air, and they
immediately took him to the emergency unit at the hospital.
When he was placed on a gurney a nurse remarked to her horror, that his
young man no longer had a face. Each eye socket was smashed, his skull,
legs, and arms fractured, his nose literally hanging from his face, all
is
teeth
were gone, and his jaw was almost completely torn from his skull.
Although his life was spared he spent over a year in the hospital. When
he
finally left, his body may have healed, but his face was disgusting to
look
at.
He was no longer the handsome youth that everyone admired.
When the young man started to look for work again he was turned down by
everyone just on account of the way he looked. One potential employer
suggested to him that he join the freak show at the circus as "The Man
Who
Had No Face"..... and he did this for a while.
He was still rejected by everyone and no one wanted to be seen in his
company. He had thoughts of suicide.
This went on for five years. One day he passed a church and sought some
solace there. Entering the church he encountered a priest who had saw
him
sobbing while kneeling in a pew. The priest took pity on him and took
him
to
the rectory where they talked at length. The priest was impressed with
him
to such a degree that he said that he would do everything possible for
him
that could be done to restore his dignity and life, if the young man
would
promise
to be the best Catholic he could be, and trust in God's mercy to free
him
from
his torturous life.
The young man went to Mass and communion every day, and after thanking
God for saving his life, asked God to only give him peace of mind and
the
grace to be the best man he could ever be in His eyes.
The priest, through his personal contacts was able to secure the
services
of
the best plastic surgeon in Australia. There would be no cost to the
young
man, as the doctor was the priest's best friend. The doctor too was so
impressed by the young man, whose outlook now on life, even though he
had experienced the worst, was filled with good humor and love.
The surgery was a miraculous success. All the best dental work was also
done for him. The young man became everything he promised God he
would be. He was also blessed with a wonderful, beautiful wife, and many
children, and success in an industry which would have been the furthest
thing from his mind as a career if not for the goodness of God and the
love
of the people who cared for him. This he acknowledges publicly.
The young man was and is
Mel Gibson.
His life was the inspiration for his production of the movie "The Man
Without
A Face."
---------------
I received the story from a fundamentalist relative who loved Gibson's
Passion of the Christ. He goes on to say:
"He is to be admired by all of us as a God fearing man, a political
conservative, and an example to all as a true man of courage. And to
think
I
admired him before I knew any of this! He is quite a man!
Paul Harvey: This is appropriate to re-circulate in light of the movie
he's
made "The Passion of The Christ" as it shows the depth of oh so, so
much!"
Actually, I got ten pages of stuff, tons of scriptures, and steps I
should
take to receive god, because I asked him to be cautious about taking
his
10
year old son to see the film.
#948
Sad to say, but your friend did not give you the facts of the story. Not
only is
the movie not about Mel Gibson, it is from a fictional novel by Isabelle
Holland about a teenaged boy's relationship with a disfigured man who
happens to be gay. Gibson couldn't handle that, so he left it out of the
movie.
The fact of the matter is that Gibson's life had nothing to do with the
story
behind the movie. (When Gibson was 16 years old and living in Australia,
he
was beaten up and his face was damaged, but this had nothing to do with
Holland's book which was written in 1972.)
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa071200a.htm
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Michelle Malkin (Mickey)
alt.atheism atheist/agnostic list #1
alt.atheism atheist/agnostic list name collector
BAAWA Knight Who Says SPONG!
EAC Bible thumper thumper
http://questioner.www2.50megs.com
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