NBC2 is reporting that Lori N. of Albuquerque, New Mexico, attempted to auction off her soul on eBay in order to raise money and to make contact with anyone who might be able to help her.
"What I'm gonna deliver is the opportunity for someone to save my soul," Lori said. "They can save it through prayer, they can save it through conversion. They're also gonna get a certificate detailing the white and black marks on my soul."
Lori was not afraid to admit that the ad was a cry for help. "I guess you could say that. I'm at the point now, I'm tired. I don't feel good. I'm near the end of my rope. I really am."
She was severely injured in a car accident in 2007 when a drunk driver struck the vehicle in which she was riding as a passenger. In a coma for three weeks, she woke up to learn that she had suffered a stroke, a collapsed lung, and multiple broken bones - hip, pelvis, leg, collarbone, sternum and ribs.
Once a free-lance writer, she can't work anymore and gets by on part-time inventory work and jewelry making.
After suffering for years, she's at her wits end. Because her body is so broken, she decided to auction off all she had left - her soul. Even though she realizes her ad might offend some people's religious beliefs, she's just hoping to make contact with another caring soul.
But not even this worked. According to news reports, bidding went up pretty fast from $100 to $405, but eBay policy against auctioning off human body parts required them to remove the item.
The fact that a woman with a disability has to go this far to get some human compassion is disturbing on many levels - especially when we live in a world where technology was supposed to bring us all together.
"Tweets, posts, and blogging were supposed to bring us together. But too often all we get are combox wars, monologues, and loneliness. Lots of loneliness," writes Matthew Archbold for the National Catholic Register.
While technology has given us the ability to connect to millions, it has robbed us of the ability to connect with one person. "We're perfecting an amazing ability to be alone in a virtual crowd."
Let's face it, he says, air conditioners and television have destroyed communities. "People used to sit out on their porches and talk. Now we're inside - dashing out movie quotes and pop news items with our own brand of snark on our IPhone while watching Ice Road Truckers. The Ipods and computers are just finishing the job air conditioners and television started. People don't know their neighbors at all anymore. And it's getting worse."
Archbold sees this Ebay soul-selling as "a sad and misguided attempt by a woman to have someone notice her. Someone to realize that there's a soul in this IP address. In a way it's almost a sane response to an insane world. As Christians it's our responsibility, our duty, our joy to connect with other people. Let's make an effort. Let's look past the Wii and find us."
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