TASK #8: ON A WING AND A PRAYER
“Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer”. Mark Twain
To say that we’re living in stressful times is a gross understatement. You know it–I know it, and to ignore it is folly. The earth seems to be shifting beneath our feet, and uneasiness has settled into our lives like the in-law that won’t go home…
I’m not sure about much these days: the climate, our food, our schools, our cops, and our politicians… definitely our politicians. The uneasiness begats worry, and worry makes me unsure of myself. So I decided to go to my church and reflect.
Only I don’t have a church. And I’m not really religious, even though I respect religion–But why? Because, despite their pomp and theatrics, despite their fervor and sometimes misguided fanaticism, and despite the radical fringes of organized religions, I tend to believe that religions are good, or at least their intentions are good, and that people who practice a religion are well meant.
I think that Judaism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and so on, teach and encourage simple, common sense values, like honesty, fair play, and it seems like most of them, especially the Christian religions, set out pretty simple rules to follow, like “thou shalt not kill”, and “thou shalt not covet they neighbor’s wife”, which is a good one to remember if your neighbor’s wife likes to parade around in a thong while she washes her car…
There is something inherently good in believing in a higher power. In a world where the president, of the United States is a raving maniac, it’s good to have moral ground to stand on. |
But I don’t like feeling that I HAVE to go to church, or I HAVE to follow all the rules, or I HAVE to believe that someone turned water into wine or rose from the dead or the cock crowed three times–what the hell does it matter?
That’s me being uneasy again…The point is: there is something inherently good in believing in a higher power. In a world where the president, of the United States is a raving maniac, it’s good to have moral ground to stand on.
So I didn’t go to church. I sat out in the sun and watched the world pass me by. And afer a while my mind slipped out from the shackles brought about by my worries, and I found a peaceful place. And I said to myself: “Someone please help me…”
I suddenly realized: I had said a prayer. I hadn’t intended on praying, but that’s what it was. And I wasn’t reciting words from a missal, or reading words that I’d memorized from a book, nor was it begging: i.e. for the Buckeyes to beat Michigan, or for the next symbol on the slot machine to be a bell; and it wasn’t asking for mercy after I’d f–ed up something, which is a plead, not a prayer. In short, it wasn’t phony.
So I started spending the occasional moment in “prayer“. And I decided that it was better not to pray for myself, but to ask for good fortune for someone else. Someone who may need some good fortune in their life. Even if that person is some s.o.b. I couldn’t stand.
And I feel better for it. Now it’s your turn.
TASK:
This week you are going to open your notebook and write a prayer. You don’t have to invoke any particular deity, it doesn’t have to rhyme or be recited with your hands folded; it simply has to ask for something good to happen to someone you know who deserves to have something good happen to them.
If you have a comment, feel free to write me at joedoebula@gmail.com
Photo courtesy of the author.
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