I wonder what it was like back in the early Christian times when the leaders of the church wrote letters to inspire the faithful. I wonder if St. Paul got so frustrated with the Corinthians that he nearly said "Fuck you all... I hope the tigers in the Coliseum have a great snack?" I bet more than once, he would have thrown his followers to the lions himself if he had been given half the chance. He must have had a lot of faith in his convictions, and a huge amount of patience.
I have always thought that faith is a strange motivator. It demands that you cling on, even when things seem hopeless. Regardless of the likelihood of events, the expectation is that you will fly in the face of logic. Only human beings could find something so intangible to house their hopes and dreams.
Oddly, without faith of some sort, most of us wouldn't be whole. It guides our actions, and fills our souls, so we can move one foot forward into what can sometimes be the most gruesome circumstances we can imagine. It can be our compass, and it call also be the noose that ultimately helps us meet our demise. Faith in a lot of ways reminds me of the Fool card in the Tarot deck. A man moving along happily tooting his flute, unable to notice he is about to step off a cliff.
I am a man of faith. Not in a religious sense mind you. I leave that to the professionals, and those who will likely ascend upward on the day that the shit really hits the fan. My faith stems from the belief that we are capable of being better than we are. I believe that we as a race, a species, and a society are capable of much greater things. Sadly, my faith is tested on a daily basis. I guess I just expect that people will want to better themselves, and reach forward. It would be great if we could step away from all the petty things. It would be brilliant to escape from the things that will eventually crush us. (The irony of being crushed by emptiness kills me...)
I wish that we as a society would challenge those that lead us. Ask the media not to spoon feed us, and demand a say in the things that are really important. It would be great to search for things that teach us about ourselves. Something that is more than the tacit base level. Something more than the lowest common denominator.
Hell, at this point I'd settle for something on TV that doesn't suck. No more Survivor, No more Nick and Jessica and for the love of God, someone please put Anna Nicole Smith out of her misery. (and mine…)
I'd kill for a show about knitting, or how pygmies cuss, or the mating habits of lobsters. Something that makes me think. Something that helps me learn. I don't think I'm asking for too much. No more midgets, bachelors, survivors, or big brothers. Just substance.
Just a little realism. If only for a moment. There's already enough plastic in the world.
In the meantime, I'm going for a walk with my flute.
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