Hope Will Never Die...

"Why did people think the world was gonna end this weekend, dad?"

I had to pause.  It's not good form to tell your kid, "Because people are stupid."  And maybe that's not fair.  The best I could come up with was, "Because people believe crazy things."  That worked well enough.

But I kept thinking about this all day today.  The local kids, including our own 18yo kept up with jokes about the end of the world being on their graduation day.  Someone apparently has already made 'I survived The Rapture' tee-shirts, which they thought quite clever.  No one else has admitted it to me, so could it be I'm the only one who feels overwhelmed at the idea that my generation is beginning to run the show?  And that we are apparently as big a group of idiots as the last.

But, optimism is the proper tone to take on these occasions, even if we have to fake it until we make it.

That's when I realized:  The Rapture did happen this weekend.

These guys aren't the nutjobs I suggested to my kid.  They're absolutely right.  The Rapture happened, and The Absolute cast Her gaze upon the world, and didn't take a one of us.  Sorry.  Everyone got it wrong.  I'm not a prophet or anything.  Don't get me wrong.  I've met people who 'talk to God.'  They tend to be bigger idiots than the rest of us, as far as I can tell.  Insofar as 'talk to God' means 'you can't contradict me,' or 'I'm closer to the truth than you,' etc., they are invariably the biggest idiot in the room, and potentially the most dangerous.

Me, I occasionally rub elbows with The Absolute when standing in line for coffee, or sitting and waiting to get my oil changed.  We'll exchange an "excuse me," that sort of thing, but nothing much more.

The Absolute isn't a big deal.  God.  Allah.  Yahweh.  Brahma.  The Dharma.  et al.  She just wants a sexy but bookish little lady to chat up, pass some time (yes, sorry again, The Absolute is lesbian, and a reader.)  But all this end of the world stuff just isn't her gig.  And really, we're not all that captivating either (said sexy lass aside.)

We're kinda on our own.

I said it once to her, thinking maybe I'd get a little something extra, a little 'bat-phone to The Absolute' action.  She just stuck her head forward a bit, smiled, raised her eyebrows, all the while sucking on her caramel machiato.

"You know how it goes," she said.

Yeah.  It's like that.  You know how it goes.  That's about all The Absolute is willing to offer to us solitary human beings.  And we do, right?  We know how it goes.

How powerful a thing is a human being taking responsibility for his or her own actions, words, aspirations, life?  How powerful a thing is a human beings who finds reason for a morality beyond 'Me?'

Now don't get me wrong: The Absolute seems totally chill with your religion or creed.  But I also see her frown at the petty cruelties and inconsiderations we visit on each other.  Seems like what we do matters a whole lot more than what we believe.

Anyway, so yeah.  Rapture.  Check.  Raptured.... not so much.  Maybe next time.  Maybe we'll figure out some greater truth and then... She'll find us worthwhile.  Until then, remember that person driving too slow, or taking too long at the register just might be Her, and She doesn't really care what you believe or how right your are or how close to the bat-phone you might be.  She just cares that you say 'excuse me' and give a little smile, because She has bad days, ya know, and that smile.... Well, it means a lot.  Sometimes it reminds Her of the beauty of Everything.  That's all She cares about.  Unless you are a sexy little senorita, but that's another matter altogether.  Oh, yeah, She's mixed-race.  It was just, you know, kind of inevitable.

Of course personification of a philosophical concept or literal interpretation of old religious texts make no more or less sense than any of the above.  Which you could interpret a couple ways, right?

But where does that leave us?  Responsible for ourselves?

Think about it.  In the mean time, pre-order the M-Brane Double!

;)

B