Michael Meredith of Springfield, Va has a problem. He is a gifted artist who built a 30-foot tall statue in his back yard. It’s made out of a silicon-based material that he invented himself and its head is made of a gold-leaf casting. The statue took him five years to finish. In his mind the statue is a pregnant woman and the symbol of a mother’s love. The problem for Michael Meredith is that in the minds of many Catholic pilgrims the statue is a representation of the Virgin Mary. These pilgrims have a habit of showing up at his home wanting to pray at the statue in his backyard. They pay no attention to what he tells them. What must that conversation be like?
“We came here to pray to the golden statue you have in your back yard of the Virgin Mary.”
“It’s not a statue of the Virgin Mary.”
“Yes it is.”
“I’m the one who designed and built it. I tell you it’s not a statue of the Virgin Mary.”
“So, when can I go and pray at it?”
“Why would you want to go and pray something which is only the symbol of a mother’s love and not the Virgin Mary?”
“Are you going to make a sculpture of the baby Jesus to go with it? That would be a nice touch.”
“No I’m not going to make a sculpture of the baby Jesus because I didn’t make a statue of the Virgin Mary.”
“If you would put it out front we wouldn’t have to bother you when we wanted to pray.”
By this time Michael Meredith is breathing heavy and his face is red from frustration as he screams.
“This is not a statue of the Virgin Mary how many times do I have to tell you?”
The pilgrim simply shrugs his shoulders.
“Could we bring a baby Jesus statue to put with it at Christmas time? That would look so nice.”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAgh.”
Unfortunately for the Meredith family devout travelers arrive at their home from all over the country including Texas, Minnesota and Arkansas. Erika is Meredith’s wife and has taken on the task of greeting the visitors. She does allow them to come into the back yard and take pictures but refuses to let them pray.
“Can I pray at the statue?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“It’s not a statue of the Virgin Mary.”
“Yes it is.”
“Well, ah, see, I had a dream and, ah a vision came to me and it said that this is a no praying zone and, ah, you don’t want to go against a no-praying zone vision type dream thing now would you?.”
“Guess you’re right.”
Meredith is extremely frustrated by the situation. He says if these people would pay close attention to the details of his statue they’d realize there are many differences between his statue and the way the Virgin Mary is usually depicted. The Virgin Mary always had her head wrapped and is never depicted as pregnant. His statue is of a pregnant woman and shows curly hair.
What type of logic do these people posses that would enable them to completely ignore what they’re told by the creator of the statue?
“This isn’t a statue of the Virgin Mary. In all the other depictions of her the head is wrapped and she’s never shown as pregnant.”
“So? Maybe if her head was unwrapped she’d have hair just like that statue and we know she was pregnant at one time so she probably looked just like your statue at one time. It probably is a statue of the Virgin Mary and you just don’t realize it.”
“Excuse me while I go and pummel my head into a brick wall.”
“Okay, I’ll pray for you.”
Not only are the pilgrims frustrating Michael Meredith because they refuse to believe his statue is not of the Virgin Mary but they are also causing problems with his neighbors. The people who live on his street are tired of being inconvenienced by all the traffic at Meridith’s house. Some neighbors feel the statue should not be in a neighborhood setting. County Officials have received so many complaints about the people visiting investigators have been to the Meredith home on several occasions. I don’t know why investigators would need to go to their house several times.
“We’re here to investigate the statue. Is it still a statue?”
“Yes.”
“Does it still attract unwanted people from all over the country?”
“Yes.”
“Still making sure these people don’t pray at it?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, we’ll see you in a week or two.”
“Why?”
“We have a job to do and we need stuff to investigate. If we don’t have stuff to investigate we can’t justify our budget. Since things are kind of slow with other stuff to investigate we’ll just have to keep investigating you until we get something new.”
“Oh.”
It’s a shame that Michael Meredith and his wife had to have this experience. His only intention was to create a beautiful statue to honor a mother’s love. Unfortunately he created something that brought him more trouble than he ever imagined. He says if some Catholic tourist wants to buy it from him that would be fine. I don’t think that would ever happen. After seeing what it did to Mike Meredith I doubt any of the pilgrims would want that statue relocated to their home.
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