The long cold winter has visibly, albeit reluctantly, resolved to take its leave and with it, its bulging travel suitcase of hailstorms, snowfall, and ice. The long-awaited seasonal declaration is met with the burgeoning fertility of the woodlands and the stirring of the hibernating forest critters (See: M.44, “AN ANTICIPATED GUEST”). Humankind’s celebration of the rebirth of the planet, in our view, is the annual metaphysical precursor for the joyous celebration of the holy days of the Christian Holiday of Easter, traditionally commemorating the Biblical account of the “Resurrection” of the Christian Deity.
The metaphysical and symbolic significance of the Biblical Resurrection is perceived to be one of the eternal rebirth of universal peace and brotherhood. Yet the history of mankind is disappointingly replete with accounts of zealous autocrats and demagogic personalities, arrogating to themselves the duty to exterminate persons of nuanced, diverse, or no religious belief. In our view, all inhumane actions taken in the name of religious belief are immoral and notably, inconsistent with the New Testament’s philosophy and its citation of the teachings of said Deity, therein referred to as, “The Prince of Peace.”
However, it is not the intended theme of this writing to reprise our frequently expressed views on Man’s long and deplorable history of religious conflict, genocide, and unspeakable tragedy, as, for example, in, “The 30 Years War,” “The Inquisition,” and “The Holocaust;” but rather to observe the contemporaneous state of discord and injustice, caused by certain deluded American citizens, dedicated to a reductionist and unconstitutional “re-establishment” of a “White, Christian America.” The groups styled, “White Christian Militias” appear to have but minimal interest in Nature’s miraculous rebirth of spring, the actual age-old Biblical admonitions, societal integrity, metaphysical morality, nor, indeed, the exercise of human reason.
Such groups have the dual distinction of the perpetuation of the shameful and inhumane history of religious oppression, and the addition of racial prejudice to their despicable policy of hatred and bigotry. The theme of their reductive and unconstitutional menu, supplementally, and nuanced manner to their biased evangelical style, is a faux, populist meme of xenophobic nationalism; which latter prejudice they prefer to shabbily rationalize as “patriotism.”
There is little time or inclination for such acolytes of ignorant reductionism to enjoy the soft beauty of the perennial miracle of the spring primavera, the company of friendly society, or the personally beneficial indulgence in an elective interest. The overriding ignorant and reductive sense of dedication is that of purging the nation of non-believers and non-white intruders, through their malign efforts, toxically, construed as mandated to exemplify the holy description as “White” and “Christian.”
We have experienced consistent futility in our various efforts to remind such religious-xenophobic “patriots,” (1) that the Founders who, cognizant of the history of misery and injustice brought about by autocratic religious rule in the centuries of repressive history of Europe, specifically articulated, in their foundational statements of intent, the manifest intent to leave “God” ( religious belief) entirely out of the Constitution, (2) that the foundational theme of the newly created republic was expressly one of “equality of its citizens,” (3) that there was pride in the inclusion of all peoples in the nation, by its eternal motto, “E Pluribus Unum,” (4) that there are statutory provisions, implicitly permitting and providing procedures for immigration, and (5) that our nation traditionally displays its welcome to all immigrants, without specification (of ethnos or race) by its vaunted “Statue of Liberty,” and, (6) reminding him that, foundationally, the American nation is, and eternally,has been, entirely populated by immigrants (all credos, colors, ethnicities) or their progeny.
Our various efforts to enlighten such recalcitrant reductionists have all met with abysmal results, presumably due, to some perverse idee fixe regarding minorities, buttressed by universally false and distorted factual ideation. Nevertheless, per our ardent aspiration for true American equality, we have, after much deliberation, conceived an effective seasonal cure for this ignorant and atavistic style of prejudicial ideation.
Our conceived panacea consists of sitting together with a recalcitrant bigot, on a warm, slightly breezy, day, on a comfortable grassy field, in meaningful silent, and uninterrupted contemplation, for approximately ten minutes, followed by dramatically handing him a pulled bunch of pretty, newly spouted yellow dandelions; which, unquestionably, should “do the trick.”
-p.
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