Mi primer viaje a los Estados Unidos. Qué se le va a hacer, era inevitable terminar cayendo por aquí algún día, y digo yo que no será un lugar tan malo como para no poder soportar cuatro días en él. Toca respirar hondo, prepararse mentalmente para el choque cultural, y tratar de dejar a un lado los prejuicios para poder disfrutar la experiencia.

Volando sobre algún punto impreciso del lago Ontario, y habiendo desechado ya toda posibilidad de ver las cataratas del Niágara desde el aire por culpa del mal tiempo, me pongo a *hojear la revista de Delta Airlines.

En ésas estaba cuando me encuentro con un panfletito en cuya portada se puede ver la imagen que encabeza este texto (lo he reproducido entero aquí). Un par de policías, un marine, y lo otro aunque no queda muy claro supongo que es un bombero.

“Será propaganda para atraer a los jóvenes a estas profesiones, o un panfleto gubernamental del tipo mira cuánto madelman ponemos a tu servicio con los impuestos que pagas”, pensé. Y me puse a leerlo:

HEROES are all around us today. Every town in America has heroes like firefighters, policemen and women, and emergency rescue workers. Other heroes are busy protecting us all over the world, like brave soldiers in far-off countries.

Heroes do things for us we can not do for ourselves. They are stronger, braver, and specially trained to do their very important jobs. They may put out fires, catch criminals, or do anything to keep bad people o bad things from hurting us.

Heroes keep us from harm and rescue us when we are hurt or in trouble. They never give up when we need them. Many have even died to save us. That is the greatest act of a hero.

The greatest hero who ever lived was God´s son, Jesus, and he died for you, too. But Jesus is more than a hero, he is our Saviour. Jesus came back to life again and is still with us today.

You see, there is something dangerous inside us called sin. Sun hurts us. It also keep us from going to to heaven when we die. And there is nothing we can do on our own to get rid our sin.

The Bible says:
“All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong. All have sinned… and the wages of sin is death” (Romans 2:12, 23; 6:23)

We need help, so God sent Jesús to earth to rescue us from our sin. Jesús was a person, like we are, but he was also God. And he has all the power that God has.

The Bible says:
“He [Jesus] died for your sins… in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live” (Galatians 1:4)

Jesus gave His life to save us. He died so that all sin would be punished and placed on Him, even though HE was innocent. But since He was God´s son, God RAISED Jesus from the dead, and He is still alive today, ready to be our savior and live in us if we want Him to!

The Bible says:
“He [Jesus] was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God” (Romans 4:25)

All you have to do is tell Jesus you believe in Him and that you trust He can rescue you from your sin.

The Bible says:
“Everyone who believes in him [Jesus] will have their sins forgiven through his name” (Acts 10:43). “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord [Jesus] will be saved” (Romands 10:23)

If you want Jesus to be your Saviour, you can pray like this:
“Dear Jesus, I know I do or think bad things sometimes, and that stuff is called sin. I believe You died to get rid of my sin, and I want You to rescue me. I want You to live inside of me now, and I want to be with You in heaven someday. Thank you for being my Savior. Amen”

Y ahora pone un cuadradito donde puedes marcar si quieres recibir más información:

Yes! I have asked Jesús to save me after rearing this track. Please send me free information about being a Christian.

[No sé si el panfleto formaba parte originalmente de la revista de Delta Airlines, o si bien algún piadoso ser lo habría puesto ahí pretendiendo salvar con ello alguna alma descarriada como la mía]

Muy espeluznante todo, pero lo que más me llama la atención es la imagen del reclamo. Supongo que en este lugar del mundo en el que me encuentro ahora, utilizar la foto de un marine para atraer a la gente a la religión (o viceversa: utilizar la religión para atraer a la gente a los marines) debe de ser lo más normal del mundo. Pero a mí, qué queréis que os diga: no me encaja.

*Como alguien me ha escrito preguntando, lo aclaro: tan correcto es, en este caso concreto, ojear sin H (mirar superficialmente un texto), como hojear con H (pasar las hojas de un libro, leyendo deprisa algunos pasajes). Pero yo particularmente me inclino por la segunda