[ssf] i want you ...

[rtfm]

      [b]

       iraq, regrets
       no, not the one
       mad saddam, monster of a man
        evil wicked regime
       world's best rid of them
        yuk, good riddance
       i'm sure you will agree
        iran's the same, they're obviously next
         they've got it coming ...


  [a]

   woh, can i just stop you there
   and ask you
   what question do you think
   you were being asked

   no, no, don't reply to that
   it's not important, but can i ask you instead
   have you ever looked up to anyone
   in your life, who have you're heroes been
    or heroins if you like


      [b]

       how is this relevant


  [a]

   i want you to state christ
   so that i may cross examine you

   i mean, you're a recent convert
   to the church of rome, so i take it
   you do quite like the chap,
   and even before that
   or am i mistaken


      [b]

       of course i do, but i still don't see
       how this is relevant


  [a]

   it is relevant in that one's believes
   influence one's actions


      [b]

       yes, of course, that's what i've been saying
       all along, and since nine one one ...


  [a]

   no stop, i'm going to have to shut you up there
   and ask you to not interrupt
   and speak only if asked
   something specifically, because
   you've been hell bent on war
   for a long time now
   and i wonder where
   you're getting it from
   there's nothing like this
   in the gospels, there's a lot
   of brotherly love there, agape
   compassion, and do unto others
   as you would have others
   do unto you, but war there ...

     you know, believes are a funny thing
     excuse the digression, but when i was a kid
     i used think that jesus
     was a bit of woolly woofter
     his asexuality being a mark of effeminacy
     rather than that of a celibat, but as i got older
     and had done long stretches of my own
     some self induced, yet more generally
     induced by others, and reread the books
     i began to think, no
     he had other things
     on his mind, his muse was heaven
     or rather, he pictured heaven on earth

     well i don't know what that might look like
     but at the same time, as a matter of deduction
     i know where not there yet

     but getting back to believes, you consider yourself to be
     a socialist also don't you


      [b]

       i am a socialist


  [a]

   yes, of a kind
   and you probably agree
   they're are many kinds of socialist
   as there are many different folk


      [b]

       everyone's unique


  [a]

   aren't they though, for instance
   some folk believe
   that socialism is nothing but another
   judeo christian meander
   whilst some socialists believe
   that the emancipation of the sexes
   will only be realised through
   the the emancipation of the classes
   and further, these same socialist
   believe themselves to be scientists

    why i bring this up, is poverty
    or rather, its eradication
    i would really like to see that

    would you


      [b]

       yes, of course i would


  [a]

   good, well then i put it to you
   that while ever
   we believe in the fictional justice
   of money, we will have both
   the very rich: the few with their billions,
   and the very poor: the billions with their
    square root of six figs
     to contend with

     money, it's a problem
     i mean jesus, the gentle soul might have said
     give unto caesar
     what is caesar's
     but i believe in general
     he tried to keep well away from the stuff

     but we live in different times now
     money is everywhere, it's almost omnipresent
     there are even buddhist monks
     who export candles allegedly
     but it is yucky stuff you know
     money, it's very binary
     a win, loose
     set up

      and to the poor
      guilt is associated always

      whilst to be rich
      is the byword for success
      and it is not the same ...

    [a stops and shakes head at b]


      [b]

       i know that, some of my role models in life
       have been ...


  [a shakes head at b again and continues]

   no, i'd like hear about role models later
   if we have time, but we have established
   that you believe yourself to be both
   a christian and a socialist
   is that correct


      [b]

       i am a christian and a socialist


  [a]

   yes and you're a rich man too
   i mean, materially
   you've got loads of money haven't you


      [b]

       i'm not very rich
       i don't have billions
       if that's what you mean


  [a]

   no, but you have a few million though

   don't worry, i'm not after it


      [b lols]

       yes,
       i have worked very hard
       and i am prudent


  [a lols too]

   yes, but i don't think
   that's the right answer ...

  [a stops, shakes head at b again
   and, in time continues]

     prudence and hard work
      are admirable behaviors in their own right
     but not i think the sole ingredients
     or even the necessary ones
     in obtaining a lot of cash and things

     solomon prayed for wisdom
     and was rewarded materially you know

     ah, a question
     do you know who his mam was
     or rather i mean,
     do you what they called solomon's mother


      [b]

       yes, bathsheba


  [a]

   yes, bathsheba, but no
   i meant in the new testament,
   it's right at the beginning
   matthew chapter one refers to her
   in the pretty much otherwise male orientated
   ancestral list of jospeh
   jesus's other dad

     matthew doesn't call her bathsheba though
     she is labeled the wife of uriah
     because she was, before david clapped eyes on her
     do you know the story, war
     deceit and innocent blood ...


     history, the hand of history
     on one's shoulders, i see you've turned quite gray
     me too, at the temples anyway
     it must be a heavy burden,
     the responsibility
     and the risk, the ability to evaluate risk
     and to behave accordingly

      but there's lot's of it you know, history
      here, you might know about this already
      but in the aftermath
      of the romans sacking jerusalem
      in what is now called commonly
      year seventy, and the destruction of
      the temple there, a lot of writing
      was produced, in part as a reaction to
      the loss of this space of worship

      similarly, when emperor nebuchadnezzar sacked
      that building's older twin, king soloman's
      some six and half centuries before
      folk wrote vast amounts of reflective material
      on how and why it all went wrong,
      stitching together
      an array of stories which told them,
      how'd they'd got there
      how they should live, how they did live
      their laws, and giving some hope for the future
      the torah, the hebrew bible in skeletal form

      but the new testament arose much later
      after the fall of the replacement temple
      subsuming both prior scripture
      and the prophesies of that building cult
      and fitted them around
      the life and times
      of jesus christ ...

       and in the same period of history
       other jews studied the old book differently
       and that book, or rather
       it's rereading, and the finding of new meanings within
       replaced the temple, as the primary place
       of meeting with the divine presence
       thought to have visited there

       they developed midrash, that is
       they applied the book's words directly
       to the burning issues of the day
       and made them speak afresh
       as a call for action

       for example

       'how can jews atone for their sins
        if we have no place to make offerings'
        -- said distraught rabbi joshua to johanan
           on viewing the charred remains
           of that latter sacred alter --

          'grieve not ...'
           -- consoled rabbi johanan
              quoting scripture --
          'we have atonement equal to the temple:
           the doing of loving deeds
            as god said to hosea:

          "i desire love, not sacrifice"'

       midrash, an oral tradition
       but based on the words of a book, and
       designed to spread compassion and love

       well, borges says somewhere
        that good readers are far rarer
         than good writers, and ...

          and ...

          i'm drifting ...

     [a shakes head slowly at b
      then jolts, and continues]

         oh, no i'm not
         you, yes you
         didn't the arch bish
         make a comment recently
         saying you ought to read
         some dostoyevsky

         he did, dint he

         cheeky monkey ...


      [b lols]


      [a lols too,
       and starts again]

         do you think he was trying to
         vilify you, no don't bother
         i wouldn't want to bring moisture
         to the eyes of your mates
         i'm only messing, but
         getting back to the point
         when the twin towers
         and building seven were felled
         in lower manhattan
         you say from that point in time
         your believes as to the risks
         to our security, changed irreversibly
         and that is why
         you helped convince people
         to go to war ...

      [b nods]

         you were listened to
         your voice was loud, clear and amplified
         replayed many times
         your reasons and justifications
         broadcast repetitively, other folk
         were at it too, it wasn't just you
         it worked well, didn't it
         we are indeed at war ...