Some of you might be aware on occasion I release a podcast,
just random madness similar to this blog. Every now and then I think I should
spruce it up and add music. If I ever decide to pry open that little bitty
wallet of mine and find a dollar to two I would pay the copyright fee or
whatever you have to do to add some. My idea would be to play Ten Years After’s
“I’d love to change the world”.
And I would use some of the music and let the refrain appear:
“I’d love to change the world, but I don’t know what to do, so I’ll leave it up
to you.”
Or just might use it as the lead in, who knows, yet I have
always like that song. Another song came to mine this morning was Elvis
Costello and the Attractions’ “What’s so funny about peace love and
understanding”. And after pulling up the lyrics were they more prescient then
that we first thought or are the lyrics just timeless. Y’all can debate that
amongst yourselves.
Yet I also thought it would be fun to post a link to the
song on “X” and see how much it triggers MAGA. Then I became a better person and
realized you cannot lump MAGA as one group of the crap that gets posted on “X”. This is me practicing what I preach against.
We cannot point fingers because that just fuels the fire of us versus them that
is destroying our country right now.
MAGA isn’t the hate filled and/or lie spewing world of
Catturd, Laura Loomer, Guenther Eagleman, Janice what’s her name and certain
members of Trump’s administration. They are just the loud voices that fuel problems
and discord. Most of MAGA are everyday Americans who for a variety of reasons
supported Trump in 2016 and then doubled down on him as time went on. They are
working class Americans felt left out first by the Democrats then Washington
itself, they are people who watched too much Fox and became baptized by its
demonization of Democrats, some mid Americans and Republicans who were fed up
with Democrats demonizing them by pretentious elitism, in 2024 who were burnt
by the inflation of 2020-2024 and didn’t hear a viable plan from the Democrats
to solve a problem Donald Trump so easily (and falsely) attributed to them.
There are more of course, yet the point is MAGA is not primarily some easily
grouped together lump of people that are the hate filled monsters you see on social
media.
Of course the same goes the other way also, most Democrats
aren’t pompous clueless elitists, just people seeing problems facing them and
looking for an alternative to the hate filled world of social media. They just
prefer leftists ideas. I am not a big
fan of left wing economics, yet it is easy to see why people are swayed by them
when you see the wealth gap, the diminishing education, the concerns over
social security and the cost of healthcare. Democrats don’t have the answers,
but they definitely have the verbiage.
All that aside I decided not to post on X that wonderful
song by Elvis Costello and the Attractions at the moment, yet I still might
hoping not to trigger MAGA, but to encourage people to rethink their world.
I am about to get to my story, but first as some of you know
I am Catholic so writing about “Gods” on a Sunday feels a bit sacrilegious, yet
hey God knows the truth. So to balance my brain, here is today’s first reading
which also goes along with wanting to hear the song What’s so funny about peace
love and understanding. Things just work sometimes:
From the Prophet Habakkuk
1:2-3;2:2-4 “How long oh Lord? I cry for help/ but you do not listen!/ I cry
out to you, Violence!/ but you do not intervene./ Why do you let me see ruin;/
why must I look at misery?/ Destruction and violence are before me;/ there is
strife, and clamorous discord./ Write down the vision/ clearly upon the tablets,/ so that one can
read it readily./ For the vision still has its time,/ presses on to fulfillment
and will not disappoint;/ if it delays, wait for it,/ it will surely come it
will not be late./ The rash one has no integrity;/ but the just one, because of
his faith, shall live.
And yes the song popped in my head first, then the better
half showed me today’s readings. Strange but true.
And now to part 2 of the story. As mentioned I just post and
go so now this second part is well just what comes next.
The first mortal was confused. He followed his friend home
to his house. He watched as his friend placed the stone onto the growing fence.
His friend had been working on this for seven cycles of the sun. Now he was
proud that it was half way done. Sometimes he would bring two or three smaller
stones, but mostly they were the larger ones, heavy to carry. He was very
particular though on which stones he choose. Sometimes taking a whole day to
find the right one. It was his fence though and it was his home so he wanted it
to be just right. When he started he had invoked to Gods help him. Yet even
then the Gods were not part of many people’s lives.
Once the stone was placed they ate and shared wine. His
friend toasted to the Gods then laughed saying I guess I don’t need to do that
anymore.
The next morning the first mortal went to the Priests. They
were no longer at the temples on the dividing ground. They all had moved into
the city and built temples there. Now though not much went on. The priests
still celebrated on the holy days, but mostly they sold wares in the marketplace
to survive. No one gave to the temples. Well a few did, the most devout of the
worshippers still attended the temples, but it was a small minority of the
population. The priests were left with earning money like everyone else to eat.
He went up to the largest temple and asked the guard to speak
to the priest. The guard looked at him quizzically. No one really wanted to talk
to the priests anymore. He had been a guard for as long as he could remember. A
long time ago, he would receive tribute to make an appointment to see the priests,
now he went with the priests to help them sell in the marketplace.
The guard asked the mortal what he wanted. He said it was of
dire importance and the priests needed to know immediately. The guard brushed
him off. He tried persuasion, yelling, guilt all to no avail. The guard couldn’t
care less.
He went to the next temple and encountered the same scenario.
A guard who didn’t want to give him an inch. The third temple was just the
same.
He was tired and frustrated. How could no one care about the
Gods anymore? They were the creators, the power over all, the dispensers of
justice, blessings, riches, and punished the wicked.
Then a strange thought hit him. If the Gods are dead, who is
doing all that now? He looked around. He decided he really needed to speak to a
priest. He had many questions about the Gods. It was late so he went home to sleep.
It was now two full days since the Gods had died and nothing really changed.
The next morning he headed to the marketplace hoping to run
into a priest. And he did. He did not recognize the priest at first, mainly
because he was dressed in clothes like himself, not the usual robes. It was
only because the priest was arguing with someone about the price of something
that the customer yelled I don’t care if you are a priest, I will only give you
so much. The priest eventually acquiesced and took what he could get. The mortal
approached the priest.
I beg to have a word with you he said. The priest looked at
him incredulously. It was bad enough to have to sell in the marketplace, but to
be hounded by someone who was not going to buy anything was worse. The priest
looked at him waiting for him to go on.
He told the priest what had happened. Well he left out many
of the details, but said all the Gods are dead. The priest laughed. That cannot
be true. I am still a priest of the Gods so they are alive.
I beg to differ said the mortal. The priest said, well if
you think you are so special to go to the land of the Gods, which I doubt you
did, then bring proof of their demise. The man remembering the fear he felt
when he first went thought about letting it go. If the priests didn’t care, why
should he? And was he sure. He was lucky not to get caught the first time. And
even though he felt sure the Gods were all dead, it was frightening to think
about going again. Not only that it was a long climb up the mountain to get
there.
The priest was angry this mortal just stood there thinking.
He barked at him. Either go bring proof or leave me be. I have things to do,
meaning he needed to sell more so he could eat. The priest then asked for
donation to the temple. The mortal looked at him. He had no money. He barely
had food at home. His work was sporadic like most people’s. Everyone in the city
struggled except for a very few.
The mortal knew he had the time to go since he wasn’t going
to work for three more days. He asked the priest what proof do you need? This
made the priest pause. What proof would be needed? It actually occurred to him
that if the Gods were dead this changed everything including his position in
society. Sure no one had money, but he still could command certain favors and
attention in the temple, on the holy days, at weddings, funerals, his place in
society would be put in great jeopardy. He realized he needed to know if the
Gods were dead or was this person mad.
He asked for one of the swords of the Gods. The priest
figured that if a mortal could get a sword then the Gods were truly dead. The
mortal blinked. He saw the two Gods kill each other with their swords. The Gods
were huge so were their swords. He wasn’t sure he could bring them down the
mountain.
He asked is there anything else. The priest thought for a
moment. No, it must be the swords. Now the priest wasn’t thinking about the
size, but did say do not bring them into the city. Just bring them down to the
bottom of the mountain and not on the holy grounds. The priest had immediately
realized he wouldn’t want anyone else including the other priests to know just
yet.
The man went home and ate a small dinner. He packed the rest
of the food he had into his old torn knapsack to journey with tomorrow and
slept.
To be continued
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