I have seen it all. I
was there when terrorists began bombing houses.
I was there when two jetliners full of innocent people slammed into the
side of the World Trade Towers. I
watched a baseball fan shoot a rival fan dead during a post-game dispute. I sat in the flatbed of a pickup truck while
a young, promising doctor was dragged down a gravel road, noose-broken neck
flagging him as a homosexual. Not but a
few decades earlier I rode in the back of another truck, the bumper adorned
with another rope, and the rope adorned with another doctor; this one a
recently educated “colored” man. Nuclear
arms races, concentration camps, forced famines, and walls built as monuments
to hatred and division. I watched the
Inquisitors teach Europe the goodness of their God with a misguided sureness of
purpose I have never seen matched. I
looked on as the Crucifixion of Christ became a blood sport for the
entertainment of the masses. I watched
the first theft, the first rape, the first murder.
Few who know that would believe I arrived at these events
purely by coincidence. Their skepticism
is not misguided. I have never once been
in attendance by mere chance, but by design.
I am there to watch my congregation worship and praise and give
thanks. I am there to collect what is
due to me, my tribute. They are the
places, the times, and the people that I draw strength from. They allow my existence to continue.
I am demonized (excuse the pun, as it is in rather poor
taste and even poorer wit) because people need someone or something to blame
for humanity’s unparalleled potential for ugliness and cruelty. There are a great many turns of phrases for
it: scapegoat, sacrificial lamb, sucker,
stooge…
The list really does go on (almost endlessly in fact, and
that encompasses but the English language).
People say that I am an elemental evil that has existed long
before humans and will exist long after, that I am eternal. They think that I spat in the face of God and
took Perdition as my own kingdom, one meant to outshine even that of the Lord
Almighty’s. The truth is that I am a
construct, just like God, meant to serve as a waste receptacle for all of
humanity.
I am the personification of the ugliness that humanity revels
in. I exist because actions and thoughts
and beliefs have consequences. I exist
because actions and thoughts and beliefs have power. I am a byproduct of humanity and I congregate
at these great places of ugliness because they call to me and I am powerless to
refuse their cries.
Can't honestly remember why I wrote this one. I remember when I wrote it, but not much else lol.
ReplyDeleteI was flipping through my files, looking for a story I couldn't remember the name of (a problem I come across quite a lot considering how many unfinished story I've got stored away) when I came across this one. I couldn't remember the story that went with the name so I gave it a once over. I liked the concept but it definitely needed some polish (it still does in all likelihood), so I out it through its paces a few times, sent it out to a couple people, and then decided it was looking good enough to post.
Good enough to post and good enough for me to leave alone are two different things though. I'm betting this story goes through more changes sooner rather than later...