Close But No Cigar

We’ll here we are again. Luckily, this time, we avoided the Terrible rapture predicted by The Oh so righteous fundamentalist Fred Camping on Family radio.com. There are some who did experience Rapture like consequences in the guise of a 200 mph tornado in Joplin Mo and to them we must say farewell. This was followed by the dramatic volcanic eruption in Iceland, again. I would say the end is near but it’s not about weird winged creatures coming from the sky. It’s mother nature cleaning house. It’s going to be a wild ride.

I was actually down at Rapture Central on May 21^st to see if the devoted flock would be standing ready at the gates of the Oakland airport, because that’s where the radio station is on Hegenberger Ave. All I found in the parking lot around noon was a crazy right wing spoof group excited for the arrival of Jesus, a reporter from the SF Chronicle and a Minister of a nearby church who had his car smothered in bumper stickers from hood to hatchback.

One stood out in particular. Gay = Pervert. I asked him if he had a sticker that said Priest = pervert. He began to rattle off the strangest statistics I’ve ever heard. The first that proportionately because there are only %2 gay people in the US and 98% hetero that the small amount of pedophiles in the gay population are greater that the large amount in the straight population because of the size of the group. Go figure.

He also told me that most violence against gay people is gay on gay. Butches against dykes. I had to laugh. I told him, being of the Lesbian persuasion myself that I assured him that this was misinformation because in Gay linguistics, Butch’s are dykes. He said, “No, they’re not.” He also told me the origin of the word Gay was “Going after youth”. I said, “No, Gay means Happy.”

He clenched his fist to tell me how public school and the left wing media are crushing the souls of our children by legitimizing homosexuality and while he disagreed with the whole rapture prediction and was there to protest, he did feel like our society was going to hell in a hand basket because of the liberal homo agenda.

He also was absolutely positive that Global warming was a hoax. He believed that we are about to be enslaved controlled by some power mad corporate elite. That is the one thing that we agreed on. The corporations are taking over the world. I took that as a good sign. We had something in common. I pointed that out and we shook hands. I wished him luck and hoped he would find love in his Christian heart for all people one day.

With no rapture in sight nor anyone from Family Radio, I had the option to run over to Oakland for the Atheists’ convention or go to Berkeley and see the New Tom Shadyiak film I AM. I opted for the later, feeling like, if we are going to Rapture this evening at 6PM as predicted, I want to enjoy my own religious experience aligned with my divine belief system that underneath it all, everything is beautiful. I also thought if I ran into Jesus anywhere in the Bay Area it would be in Berkeley. In fact, I thought I saw him on Telegraph Ave, but he denied it. I thought everyone would be looking for Jesus. But they were busy shopping and dining.

Tom Shadyac is the Director of the Bruce Almighty and the Ace Ventura movies starring the putty faced Jim Carrey. Funny comedies, on the disgusting side, but I laughed a lot when Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura 2 looked like he was being birthed by a Rhino. Hilarious!

After a terrible bike accident that resulted in severe brain trauma that nearly killed him, Shadyac reexamined his purpose and was reborn with a mission to contribute something really productive, healthy and important to the cultural table. The film I AM is his offering. The documentary asks the questions; "What is wrong with the world and How can we fix it?" He poses this dilemma to a variety of scientists, historians, philosophers and the like including, Desmond Tutu, Howard Zinn, Lynn Mctaggert, author of the Intention experiment and a vast array of other movers and dreamers. It is not hard to express that the most threatening issues we face or a result of profit and greed, just like the preacher man said.

The interview subjects begin by questioning the premise that Human beings are competitive. We are born under that pretense and we are thrust into the classroom, the marketplace, stadium, and warzone with that paradigm as a given. After deeper investigation it becomes apparent that while we may have the competition genome we are also gifted with the cooperative gene and if we are reared with that intention supported by a society that thrives on cooperation we could and will change the world and make it a safer, better, richer, more beautiful place. Because in lieu of the rapture and the forecasting of end times, we find ourselves at a cross roads my friends. We now have glorious opportunity to recast ourselves as companions, allies and friends. We always see that especially when disaster strikes, our innate response is to safe lives even of strangers and enemies. To me this speaks of basic human nature if given the pertinent information and opportunity.

And yes, In I AM, underneath it all they scientifically prove, at least in my mind, that we are all connected, we are all one. So that angry preacher man in the parking lot is me and the best way to convert him, so to speak, is to treat him with such love and appreciation that he is healed from the smile on my face and the warmth of my handshake. Close, but no cigar.