She screams in the streets,
On every street corner I hear her,
From billboards to bus stops
From the homeless girl in the alley,
To the news I see on TV.
She cries, "Come to me all you who are weary and burden-laden,
Come to me, and find rest...
Yet the rest she offers is like that of the calm glass surface of a sea,
where storms rumble underneath.
The rest she offers is in exchange
For the torment of the soul.
She's the Harlot of the Age,
But with the face of an angel.
How come we don't hear her,
How come we don't see her?
We've plugged our ears and blinded our eyes,
Filled our stomachs to satiation,
Living bodies with deadened souls
To the raging, teeming, screaming humanity
Crying for breath,
Crying, HELP.
I hear her now, I hear her now!
A blood-curdling scream, igniting
Not pleasure, but terror.
Like children we become, huddled in a corner,
Rocking back and forth,
Hoping to drown out the noise.
I see her now, I see her now!
When I turn on the TV, while surfing the web,
When driving down the street, when ironing shorts
Labeled, 'Cambodia'.
When I see children playing on the playground.
I wonder, who's fallen prey?
They think they see an angel,
When it's been the devil all along.
Now I see her true face.
The abused girl on that playground,
The underfed mother of 3 sewing my shorts,
Wondering if she should listen to the Harlot and find other means...
The doors of houses, shutting out life.
Society, deaf to the lies & perversion,
Making the virtual their reality.
Is it fight or flight?
I can't decide.
Can I live life,
willing to hear and see the suffering & misery?
Or will I go back to sleep,
Joining the other unliving statues
That mark the ranks of our age.
HOPE
MERCY,
JUSTICE,
COMPASSION,
FORGIVENESS,
RIGHTEOUSNESS,
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
A flame flickers in my soul,
Will I let it burn?
Will YOU?
Friday, July 29, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
A Story to Ponder
So, here’s a strange story I read recently and have been puzzling over. Read, ponder, and feel free to comment on your impressions:
"A king was standing before an altar, about to make an offering, when a holy man came from another kingdom by his God's command and cried out (these were God's orders) to the altar: "Altar, Altar! This is God's message! 'A son will be born into king's family. The priests from the shrines who are making offerings on you, he will sacrifice—on you! Human bones burned on you!'" At the same time he announced a sign: "This is the proof God gives—the altar will split into pieces and the ashes of the holy offerings spill into the dirt." For the altar had been built to self-invented gods.
When the king heard the message the holy man cried out against the altar, he reached out to grab him, yelling, "Arrest him!" But his arm was paralyzed and hung useless. At the same time the altar broke apart and the holy offerings all spilled into the dirt—the very sign the holy man had announced by God's command.
The king pleaded with the holy man, "Help me! Pray to your God for the healing of my arm." The holy man prayed for him and the king's arm was healed—as good as new!
Then the king invited the holy man, "Join me for a meal; I have a gift for you."
The holy man told the king, "Not on your life! You couldn't pay me enough to get me to sit down with you at a meal in this place. I'm here under God's orders, and he commanded, 'Don't eat a crumb, don't drink a drop, and don't go back the way you came.'" Then he left by a different road than the one on which he had walked into the town.
There was an old prophet who lived in the town. His sons came and told him the story of what the holy man had done that day, told him everything that had happened and what the holy man had said to the king.
Their father said, "Which way did he go?" His sons pointed out the road that the holy man from the other kingdom had taken.
He told his sons, "Saddle my donkey." When they had saddled it, he got on and rode after the holy man. He found him sitting under an oak tree.
He asked him, "Are you the holy man who came from the adjoining kingdom?"
"Yes, I am," he said.
"Well, come home with me and have a meal."
"Sorry, I can't do that," the holy man said. "I can neither go back with you nor eat with you in this country. I'm under strict orders from my God: 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop; and don't come back the way you came.'"
But he said, "I am also a prophet, just like you. And an angel came to me with a message from God: 'Bring him home with you, and give him a good meal!'" But the man was lying. So the holy man went home with him and they had a meal together.
There they were, sitting at the table together, when the word of God came to the prophet who had brought him back. He confronted the holy man who had come from the other kingdom: "God's word to you: You disobeyed God's command; you didn't keep the strict orders your God gave you; you came back and sat down to a good meal in the very place God told you, 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop.' For that you're going to die far from home and not be buried in your ancestral tomb."
When the meal was over, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. Down the road a way, a lion met him and killed him. His corpse lay crumpled on the road, the lion on one side and the donkey on the other. Some passersby saw the corpse in a heap on the road, with the lion standing guard beside it. They went to the village where the old prophet lived and told what they had seen.
When the prophet who had gotten him off track heard it, he said, "It's the holy man who disobeyed God's strict orders. God turned him over to the lion who tore him up and killed him, just as God had told him."
The prophet told his sons, "Saddle my donkey." They did it. He rode out and found the corpse in a heap in the road, with the lion and the donkey standing there. But the lion hadn't touched either the corpse or the donkey. The old prophet loaded the corpse of the holy man on his donkey and returned it to his own town to give it a decent burial. He placed the body in his own tomb. Then they mourned, saying, "Ah, brother!"
After the funeral, the prophet said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the same tomb where the holy man is buried, my bones alongside his bones. The message that he preached by God's command against the altar and against all the false temples of worship in the surrounding towns will come true."
After this happened, the king kept right on doing evil, recruiting priests for the forbidden shrines indiscriminately—anyone who wanted to could be a priest at one of the false altars. This was the root sin of king's government. And it was this that ruined him."
"A king was standing before an altar, about to make an offering, when a holy man came from another kingdom by his God's command and cried out (these were God's orders) to the altar: "Altar, Altar! This is God's message! 'A son will be born into king's family. The priests from the shrines who are making offerings on you, he will sacrifice—on you! Human bones burned on you!'" At the same time he announced a sign: "This is the proof God gives—the altar will split into pieces and the ashes of the holy offerings spill into the dirt." For the altar had been built to self-invented gods.
When the king heard the message the holy man cried out against the altar, he reached out to grab him, yelling, "Arrest him!" But his arm was paralyzed and hung useless. At the same time the altar broke apart and the holy offerings all spilled into the dirt—the very sign the holy man had announced by God's command.
The king pleaded with the holy man, "Help me! Pray to your God for the healing of my arm." The holy man prayed for him and the king's arm was healed—as good as new!
Then the king invited the holy man, "Join me for a meal; I have a gift for you."
The holy man told the king, "Not on your life! You couldn't pay me enough to get me to sit down with you at a meal in this place. I'm here under God's orders, and he commanded, 'Don't eat a crumb, don't drink a drop, and don't go back the way you came.'" Then he left by a different road than the one on which he had walked into the town.
There was an old prophet who lived in the town. His sons came and told him the story of what the holy man had done that day, told him everything that had happened and what the holy man had said to the king.
Their father said, "Which way did he go?" His sons pointed out the road that the holy man from the other kingdom had taken.
He told his sons, "Saddle my donkey." When they had saddled it, he got on and rode after the holy man. He found him sitting under an oak tree.
He asked him, "Are you the holy man who came from the adjoining kingdom?"
"Yes, I am," he said.
"Well, come home with me and have a meal."
"Sorry, I can't do that," the holy man said. "I can neither go back with you nor eat with you in this country. I'm under strict orders from my God: 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop; and don't come back the way you came.'"
But he said, "I am also a prophet, just like you. And an angel came to me with a message from God: 'Bring him home with you, and give him a good meal!'" But the man was lying. So the holy man went home with him and they had a meal together.
There they were, sitting at the table together, when the word of God came to the prophet who had brought him back. He confronted the holy man who had come from the other kingdom: "God's word to you: You disobeyed God's command; you didn't keep the strict orders your God gave you; you came back and sat down to a good meal in the very place God told you, 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop.' For that you're going to die far from home and not be buried in your ancestral tomb."
When the meal was over, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. Down the road a way, a lion met him and killed him. His corpse lay crumpled on the road, the lion on one side and the donkey on the other. Some passersby saw the corpse in a heap on the road, with the lion standing guard beside it. They went to the village where the old prophet lived and told what they had seen.
When the prophet who had gotten him off track heard it, he said, "It's the holy man who disobeyed God's strict orders. God turned him over to the lion who tore him up and killed him, just as God had told him."
The prophet told his sons, "Saddle my donkey." They did it. He rode out and found the corpse in a heap in the road, with the lion and the donkey standing there. But the lion hadn't touched either the corpse or the donkey. The old prophet loaded the corpse of the holy man on his donkey and returned it to his own town to give it a decent burial. He placed the body in his own tomb. Then they mourned, saying, "Ah, brother!"
After the funeral, the prophet said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the same tomb where the holy man is buried, my bones alongside his bones. The message that he preached by God's command against the altar and against all the false temples of worship in the surrounding towns will come true."
After this happened, the king kept right on doing evil, recruiting priests for the forbidden shrines indiscriminately—anyone who wanted to could be a priest at one of the false altars. This was the root sin of king's government. And it was this that ruined him."
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