Abundant concrete evidence says life is hard.
But somewhere between the plane and open parachute most make their peace and it's set.
Yet a few start for the rip cord and draw their hand back. Why pull the cord, float to earth and spend the next 40 years wandering in the wilderness?
(After that the old man never really is as convertible)
Preachers' eyes light up like silver dollars at the sight of a contrite preteen
Those who never bother to pull the cord scare the hell out of good Christians
For these brave hearts watch the thrilling rocks and weeds getting larger
and occasionally on the periphery catch a glimpse of a sign that reads when Buddha sits
around the house Buddha sits...or Christ died for your sins, or Mohammed offers Mo
signs that become ironic markers of intentionally private person-ground intersection
Bob Dylan says, "I don't mind leaving but I want it to be my idea."
The problem is, Dylan didn't have a wife, daughter and others he loved.
I'll probably pull the cord at some point and just float along with all the other "saints" (as filthy as the word makes me feel). Please don't accuse me of selling out. I would rather think of it as the ultimate act of generosity.
And on the marker they could say, "He was not selfish, for if he had of been
he would have stuck to his guns and died in sin."
And the headlines will read:
"God's Simple Plan of Salvation, Not So Simple After All?" (Story page B6)
"Friends and relatives rejoiced today at the passing of a saint. But those closest to him said
he chose to live as a "good" man to please those around him. One acquaintance said, 'I think
deep down he was just as attracted to wickedness as all the rest of us. Like a real pro though, he figured out a way to hide it. It wasn't that he was evil, it was just that he did not always agree with public consensus as to what good and evil were.
For example, he thought indifference to the plight of others was a greater evil than love in an elevator. Or that worshipping a deity on Sunday to attract business on Monday was a worse evil than spending the Sabbath privately
contacting one's internal nature to be more focused during the week.'
Graveside, one of the closest friends muttered,
'What is good but evil's evil twin?
Or what is good but the soup of the day?
Today good might be a hearty French Onion,
tomorrow it might be split pea.'
Billy Joel said "I would rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints"
...and of course Jesus liked to talk about how hard it is for rich people to overcome being wealthy, but
if this reporter understands the lesson of today's funeral it would be this:
"It's easier for nicotine-rich smoke to go through the filter of a Camel Cigarette than for
a person with loved ones to go through life without professing faith in what the loved ones have dreamed up as salvation."
The attending nurse said his dying words were, "Let me down easy".
A friend said he knew what that meant.
"All I am going to say is that it has to do with planes and parachutes.
I think he would rather I leave the rest as a little riddle for your readership."
After everyone else had left,
this reporter turned to a remaining "mourner" and
asked if there was anything to be sad about.
She smiled and said, yes one thing,
"Toward the end he was learning to give and receive love
with less concern for the medium or messenger than the message.
It would have been interesting to see if he could have pulled that off."
It is clear to this reporter that this one will not rise from the dead
on the third day or take away anyone else's sins,
but it does seem clear that the man buried today
figured out something during this freefall
from several thousand feet we call life, and it is,
"Faith in life grows only in a community of kindred spirits,
and holding hands with a few of them in this common descent
might just provide enough wind resistance to soften that final blow.
And for those who choose, there is always the option of pulling that cord."
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