(Here’s something I wrote a few years ago.) <\/p>\n
[I overheard this conversation last Friday. Couldn’t quite figure out who they were, but maybe you can.] <\/p>\n
Why? Why do you let things go on like this? <\/p>\n
Excuse me?<\/i> <\/p>\n
What? Who was that? <\/p>\n
Who were you talking to?<\/i> <\/p>\n
Uh, you? <\/p>\n
Are you asking or telling?<\/i> <\/p>\n
Wow. If it’s really you, then what’s your answer to my question? <\/p>\n
I don’t see why you blame me, on this day of all days.<\/i> <\/p>\n
What do you mean by that? <\/p>\n
OK, what I’m saying is, what haven’t I done?<\/i> <\/p>\n
Well, you could tell us what to do. <\/p>\n
I tried that. In fact, I believe I gave lengthy instructions.<\/i> <\/p>\n
Oh, yeah, that. Well, why didn’t you SHOW us what to do? <\/p>\n
That’s what I meant about this day of all days. I tried that too. I<\/i> felt the reaction was a bit excessive. I mean, beating, torturing,<\/i> abandonment….A simple “no” might have sufficed. But I knew it<\/i> would be like that. I predicted it.<\/i> <\/p>\n
Wait a minute. That was you? <\/p>\n
Who did you think it was? Who did I say it was? Who did I tell you it<\/i> was going to be?<\/i> <\/p>\n
So you’re saying that when disaster strikes you are …. <\/p>\n
… Right where you want me to be. Absent.<\/i> <\/p>\n
But I thought you were running the show? <\/p>\n
Please. Give me more credit than that. I’m not running the show. You<\/i> are. And your friend. The one you chose instead of me. Ha, friend.<\/i> With friends like that, who needs enemies?<\/i> <\/p>\n
You’re saying it’s our fault? <\/p>\n
Exactly. I put you in charge. I gave you everything you needed. And<\/i> what thanks did I get? You gave it all to my worst enemy. You believed<\/i> him when he said I was holding out on you. Fine. You’re in charge, you<\/i> can do what you want. That’s what being in charge means. But now you<\/i> come and blame me for the mess you got yourselves into.<\/i> <\/p>\n
But you’re the one with all the power. <\/p>\n
Power schmower. Sure, I could make you do exactly what I want. I<\/i> could put you all on invisible strings and pull them and you’d dance<\/i> to my tune. But what fun would that be? That’s not why I made all<\/i> this. I wanted children, lovers, friends. And what did I get?<\/i> Mistrust, suspicion, fear, hatred. Look, my dear. The first thing is to<\/i> be able to tell the difference between your friends and your enemies.<\/i> When you get that figured out, come back to me.<\/i> <\/p>\n
But how can I be sure? <\/p>\n
You can’t. Trust by definition excludes certainty. But again, on this<\/i> day of all days, can you believe I would ever do anything to harm you?<\/i> <\/p>\n
Uh, about that …. <\/p>\n
About what?<\/i> <\/p>\n
You’re saying that when you actually showed up and offered to help, we were having none of it. <\/p>\n
That’s exactly what I’m saying.<\/i> <\/p>\n
And you just took it? You didn’t do anything to stop it? <\/p>\n
No, I didn’t.<\/i> <\/p>\n
Why not? I mean, you can’t save others and you couldn’t even save yourself when it came down to it. <\/p>\n
You are wrong. So wrong. I have saved others. I’ve saved you all,<\/i> if only you could realize it.<\/i> <\/p>\n
I don’t get it. You were weak and broken. How could that save anyone? <\/p>\n
Because you are all weak and broken. So I took that on myself. I<\/i> lifted that burden. I disarmed your “friend” and his evil companions.<\/i> <\/p>\n
But all the senseless death in the world …. <\/p>\n
That’s why I did what I did. I could never solve your problem as long<\/i> as I left THAT lying around. But now it’s mine. I have the key to that<\/i> prison.<\/i> <\/p>\n
So you’ll just let the death continue …. <\/p>\n
What does that matter if I’ve conquered death. But no, I won’t just<\/i> let the death continue. I’ll be back. And then, well, I’ll take the<\/i> gloves off then.<\/i> <\/p>\n
That sounds ominous. <\/p>\n
Do you think I like my beautiful creation to be what it is now? I<\/i> made it a paradise but you’ve turned it into a hellhole. Well, I’m<\/i> sorry. I didn’t make it what it is, and I won’t leave it like that<\/i> either.<\/i> <\/p>\n
Why are you waiting? <\/p>\n
Well … it’s hard. I see all the people who don’t know their right<\/i> hand from their left … I want to give them every chance. And from<\/i> time to time one of them hears, and it’s party time!<\/i> <\/p>\n
How do I get in on that? <\/p>\n
Just come. Come. Anyone who wants. It doesn’t cost anything. Just<\/i> come, drink of the water of life. It’s free.<\/i> <\/p>\n
Sounds so easy. But the problem is …. <\/p>\n
The problem is you have too many things holding you back. I know. But<\/i> all that stuff will all go away. It’s all just stuff. It doesn’t last.<\/i> <\/p>\n
I guess I just have to trust. <\/p>\n
Yeah, you do. But remember. You want to see me the way I really am?<\/i> Just think about what happened on this day, some two thousand years<\/i> ago. And that’s how I am and how I feel about you.<\/i> <\/p>\n
Just to be clear: you’re talking about …. <\/p>\n
Yeah. About that. That was me. That IS me. For you. All the way. I gave<\/i> it all so you could have it all. This is love.<\/i> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An overheard conversation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meditation","tag-easter","has-excerpt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.homedns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.homedns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.homedns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.homedns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.homedns.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=510"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.homedns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1467,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.homedns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions\/1467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.homedns.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.homedns.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodnews.homedns.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}