The universe has a twisted sense of humor.

   What other explanation can there be for a day like today? If you look at any local news source -television, radio, newspaper, smoke signal, etc...- you will see that the city has become the final battleground as described in Revelations.

   And neither side is really even Christian!

   What we have, on this day-of-days, is a convergence; a cosmic crossing of forces that usually is only reserved for lame writing such as on "Touched by an Angel" or in the average, contrived Julia Roberts romantic comedy. Yet today, good and evil manifested themselves in such a way in the Twin Cities as to dispel all doubt about there being a higher power.

   While the Dalai Lama arrives in Minneapolis for the first time in his life as spiritual leader for millions of Buddhists across the world, the Reverend Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kansas has arrived in Woodbury to protest homosexuals and support a student who wants to wear a "Straight Pride" T-shirt in class. It's something that no one on the Planet could have foreseen; I don't care how much like "Crossing Over With John Edwards" they are. This is unprecedented!

   One has to wonder if the Twin Cities can even survive this conjunction of diametrically opposed forces. On one hand we have the peaceful leader of a beleaguered religious minority; dedicated to spreading his word of tolerance and understanding to any who would be so kind as to listen. On the other hand, we have a petty, small-minded bigot who's idea of God's Divine Will is to picket the funerals of people who have died of AIDS in full view of their families, friends and relatives.

   What caused this? I mean, Jesse "The Gov" Ventura was less of an upset in the logical scheme of things!

   All around me, I'm seeing signs of the Last Days. We have a legislator publicly announce that he will refuse to meet with the Dalai Lama because -according to this one, small-minded ignoramus- "Buddhism is a cult". (By that logic, shouldn't we condemn the Christian ritualistic consumption of the body and blood of a God/Son-of-a-God as cannibalism?)

   In Woodbury, the short-sighted teenager who started this whole mess with his ill-conceived wardrobe has decided to stay home, away from the controversy he helped stir up. Now, I'm in favor of someone being able to speak their mind and exercise their right to free speech, but I'm also in favor of someone taking responsibility for the ramifications of their actions. And that means standing up to theological bullies like Phelps; not just issuing a statement condemning him and then staying home from school for fear of getting involved. If you're going to allege suffering for one principle -that of Free Speech- you'd better damn well be able to likewise stand up against the demons you conjure while doing it.

   I don't know; maybe this really is The End.

   Construction is tying up the downtown area so badly that some of our younger generation are starting to believe that roads are a myth. A few of them have even speculated about that long-distant, science-fiction-time when we will climb out of our homes dug into the sides of massive pot holes and emerge, blinking, into the daylight of that mystical thing known as the "Surface World".

   However, if we manage to survive to see such a wondrous day, I wonder how we'll look back on this bizarre day in Minnesotan history.

   Will we see it as the day when Creation itself decided to show -once and for all- the difference between Good and Evil?

   Will we think of it as a time when reality hiccupped and allowed for the final seals to be broken on the flood gates of Eternity, ushering in a thousand years of turmoil?

   Or will we all thank our lucky stars that we elected our own Savior -in the guise of a feather-boa-wearing pro-wrestler- which has so diluted our sense of what was insane and crazy, that we bustled through it all, unaffected and untouched from dawn until dusk?

©2001 David J Rust
aka Sylvan SilverNight
May 7th, 2001