I'm the Tyranny of Evil Men. But I'm tryin', Ringo...
Someone in the past week mentioned the end of planet earth being a very real possibility and I felt a huge sense of relief.
Then I heard a thought bubble up from my belly button, from somewhere dark inside. It said, "Thank God. I can finally exit this rat race!"
Then I actively thought, from another location, Did I really think that? Do I really feel that way?
When did this lust for annihilation and hate-filled cynicism start to run things on planet earth? And when did I sink into its ensnaring abyss with a sticky excitement of death? Or did I?
One of my comedic (and general) heroes, Chris Rock, has a great bit in his 1999 classic, "Bigger and Blacker." He jokes about how a cop pulled him over and was so convinced Chris Rock stole the car he was driving that even he started to question whether he stole his own car. "Damn, maybe I did!" he says. "Oh, Lawd, I done steal a car!"
The truth is: The part of me that's real and still has goodwill does not think or feel that way. But this other part of me, like a corrupt cop trying to tell me to "Get outta the fuckin' car!" with a gun to my head, is making it really hard to know what's real these days.
But, like Jules Winnfield's character says so poignantly in Pulp Fiction, "That shit ain't the truth."
"I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin, Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd."
Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper... and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."
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