Turn The Other Cheek - pipTalk Forums

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Jaime Fradera
Senior Member

since 2000-11-25

Posts 843
Where no tyranny is tolerable

0 posted 2007-05-04 11:47 PM

I am in church.
Because the pews next to me do not have armrests,
I lie down on them and fall asleep.

I am dimly aware that a weeping woman

is giving some emotionally moving sermon,

and I am vaguely aware that
it is improper to sleep in church

and what if they saw me?

I wake up as the service ends.

I need a ride home,

and someone offers me one before I even ask.

As we wait for traffic to pass,

I hear the radio on another vehicle

playing a network thriller from the 1950's,

replete with quaint, funny commercials

and jingles promoting gasoline, cold medicine and cigarettes.
For some reason I can hear it perfectly,

every commercial

and every word of dialog with music.

I am completely absorbed in the drama,

which is interrupted by a bulletin

that fighting has broken out in Korea

and the President will speak to the nation.

Then the vehicle drives off.

It is afternoon.
The voice box in the apartment blares an announcement

for all tenants,

that Clean Street will be closed for construction.

She says her name is Amy
and that she will come to my apartment

to explain the construction work being done on Clean Street.

I am nude and look for something to wear

before Amy comes.

It is night.
My apartment is so tiny

I can almost reach across it.

It has a tiny round table

about 1 foot across

on which I have to eat my dinner.

It has a radio already installed.

I spin the dial

looking for the police thriller I had been listening to,

but just hear a bewildering jumble of stations and languages.

It comes to me the radio might be a television;
but why would an apartment come

with a television already installed?

I wonder if this is a satellite feed.

I settle on some talking heads panel show

and start to eat dinner.

It is a Christian program

and the evangelist is promoting the virtues

of the South-west Theological Seminary,

that it graduates fine young men

prepared to enter the ministry.

The minister also gives Christians
practical day-to-day advice.

A caller asks what should a Christian do

if they are assaulted on the street?

The minister says to turn the other cheek.

The caller asks:

but what if the attacker has a knife or a gun?

The minister answers to just knock the person down.
or if that doesn't work try kissing them,
because we're supposed to love our enemies

so don't hurt the attacker

just knock him down. Suddenly I am on the show.

No! I shriek, that's not enough.

If he hits you on the cheek

turn around so he can do the other one.

If he pops you in the stomach

turn around so he can pop you in the back.

After all, doesn't it say in the Bible

an eye for an eye?

This sends the minister into a towering rage,

which was exactly what I wanted,

and the show disintegrates into an angry, yelling babble

over whether the Bible either does or doesn't say

this or that

or what it either does or doesn't mean.
(Rather like the Bible babble of the Branch Davidians in Waco.

Once I've had my fun with them,

I say the preceding remarks

were entirely tung in cheek.

This closes the program.
Floating in the tropopause
Southern Cross

Drauntz
Member Elite

since 2007-03-16

Posts 2905
Los Angeles California

1 posted 2007-05-05 12:01 PM

"any day can be made into a poem and a boring day can be a very funny poem"...

yes, How true it is. I quoted what I just thought.

enjoyed.

nakdthoughts
Member Laureate

since 2000-10-29

Posts 19200
Between the Lines

2 posted 2007-05-05 05:38 PM

Jaime, I sure do enjoy your thoughts~~

M

secondhanddreampoet
Member Ascendant

since 2006-11-07

Posts 6394
a 'Universalist' !

3 posted 2007-05-06 11:14 AM

interesting!....

[there are some 'powerful points made'
and things to 'think seriously' about
in this 'write'!]

Margherita
Member Seraphic

since 2003-02-08

Posts 22236
Eternity

4 posted 2007-05-06 01:30 PM

Your ponderings are very worth of attention, dear Jaime.
In this violent world, it could be indeed a risky business to offer the other cheek, but a violent reaction could be dangerous too. To love does not mean surely that we allow others to make of us what they want. Maybe we should try to find a way to have a dialogue (when the circumstances allow it).
When I am in a potentially dangerous situation, I always call upon my Angel to protect me.

Thank you for sharing, it was an interesting read.

Love,
Margherita

Midnitesun

Member Empyrean

since 2001-05-18

Posts 28647
Gaia

5 posted 2007-05-06 09:20 PM

Chuckling here at your taunting techniques.
~Sigh~
Turning the other cheek, unfortunately, just gets us slapped twice as often without achieving any positive result. Not being a follower of Jesus, but of general nonviolence principles (via Gandhi and others), in my youth I turned the other cheek whenever possible. But with time, I found it was pointless to do so in most circumstances.

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