Purgatory: Just Look Around You

In “Purgatory” (Oct. 20), the theologians seem to have overlooked the obvious. Isn’t it just possible that this is Purgatory? That we’re in Purgatory? Right now. Today. Every day.

How else can you explain car alarms at 2 a.m., boomboxes, Howard Stern, lawyers, Congress, the National Rifle Assn., tattoos, Jerry Springer, anchorperson chitchat, TV weatherpeople, recorded messages with the menu delivered in 13 languages, those wackos crawling around in the woods with greasepaint on their faces, those wackos walking around with rings in their noses . . . ?

GEORGE KISEDA

Los Angeles