Recently, a letter arrived at the church.

The first surprise was the fact that it was a letter. We don’t see many of these quaint, backwards forms of communication anymore. We are all about our Telepathic Energy Shots, Facebook and Twitter over here.

Anyway, It was in a brittle, yellowed envelope and written in crayon. I thought I would share it with you today, because it truly speaks for all of us.

Written by a 7 year-old boy, it asks a question that we should ask ourselves…

Dear Church of the Big Red J,

My name is Johnny Wetpants. I am a little boy living in the slums of Sweatropolis. Every day I see bad men and women do bad things. I barely have enough to eat, and my school is scary. My parents are on drugs and my grandmother likes to hit me with a wire clothes hanger.

I don’t know what to do. I am worried. I am very unhappy. The comics tell me that the Big Red J will always save the day, but I don’t see him anywhere. What can I do to get him to help? I’m willing to do anything.

I just want the world to be happy, not sad.

Signed, Jonny Wetpants

As Jonny didn’t bother to leave us with a return address, and because the letter was dated April 20, 1958, we had no way of writing him back. If Jonny happens to be reading this today, we hope our advice helps.

Dear Jonny,

Thank you for taking the time to write. We very much enjoyed your use of thick, blunt crayons in your letter. Between the smeared wax and your serial killer style handwriting, it was a tedious three weeks of decoding your simple plea. Next time, just write in Cuneiform.

Now then…it’s clear to us that you already understand that the world is a terrible place filled with evil. It’s lurking in the heart of every man, hiding behind every corner, and is just waiting for its moment to take you and destroy your life.

You have every reason to be scared. The world is a scary place and it has no tolerance for weakness.

You say that you have been praying to the Red J, but he has yet to appear and help you. This is easy to answer. There’s one of many possible scenarios going on here:

• He’s too busy to help right now, he’ll get back to you.
• He’s off planet, visiting the shattered ruins of his homeworld.
• He’s determined that your problem isn’t important enough to deal with.
• He’s out having a nutritious snack.
• He doesn’t like you and is glad you’re suffering.
• He wants you to learn to handle things on your own.

It could be any one of these things. That part isn’t important. What is important is that you take matters into your own hands. You may be only 7 years old, but you can be an Official Sidekick of the Red J with just a little bit of bravery and a general lack of common sense.

The Red J helps those who help themselves. Find a snappy outfit and go talk to those bad people. See if you can’t change their minds. If they are still evil after you talk to them, punch them in the ear.

If you’re hungry, steal food from the rich. They have more than enough. They are probably big fat pigs.

Your school is scary? Well, it will be a little less scary with an Official SIdekick patrolling its hallways. Get to it. Beat up those bullies, report the tardy ones, and become the ultimate teacher’s pet.

Your parents are on drugs? Call the police. Get into a high-quality foster home or orphanage. These are really fun places and you’ll like the people there a lot.

Grandmother is beating you? Grab that wire hanger and give her a taste of her own medicine. KA-POW.

Thanks for writing Jonny, and keep up the good fight.