Nietzsche said that God was dead, and a lot of people seem to agree with him. If God is dead, maybe we need a eulogy for Him. Yeah, why not? Let’s give Him a grand send off. Let’s memorialize Him. People do it for their pets.
He (or She or It or Them, I’m not biased) has been pretty good to us, hasn’t He? Given us life and all that. I mean, sure, there’s been suffering; wage inflation, pestilence, famine, and death. Let’s not forget death. But the Dude gave us life, after all. Better to be alive and have suffered, better to have lived and died than never to have lived at all. At least if you’re not listening to a Nine Inch Nails track.
Yeah, some things do suck. I mean, who wants to get the clap, or get audited? That’s the thing about God: She gives you pleasure, but only if you go through pain (before or after the fun) to get there. If the pain comes before the pleasure, we call the pleasure a reward. The ultimate pain, for some, is life itself. For them the ultimate reward is heaven. If pain comes after the pleasure, we call the pain punishment and we call the pleasure sin. Either way, the pain is supposed to have come from God.
God’s dead alright. She must be, or the Cubs wouldn’t have finally won the World Series. That was one of the signs of the apocalypse predicted in the Book of Revelation, btw. But if God’s dead, then how can we blame God for the shitstorm.
And if God lives, then how can we blame the one that gives life for not making life perfect, or on our terms? Some experience the pain of living, and trade in their lives for protection from pain, for no life at all. Some feel the pain of life and try to get rid of the pain and keep the life. They distribute the pain to someone else. They cause most of the world wars and traffic jams, I think. The rest, the few, I think, go through the pain in life, and embrace life with the pain, the way you’d hug a dog with fleas. I don’t know where I fit in there. Maybe I’m in all three camps, at different times of the day or at different stages in my life.
But I’m trying to live life on its own conditions rather than trying to get it to meet mine. That means I’m trying to forgive God for all that I thought It’s done to me. Maybe the day I do that, the Cubs will make it to the big game again.
© 2022 by Michael C. Just
Mike’s novel, The Dirt: The Journey of a Mystic Cowboy, is available in softcover or eBook formats through Amazon.
You can purchase the book through this website. Or go straight to amazon at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+dirt+journey+of+a+mystic+cowboy&crid=1S40Q4BXSUWJ6&sprefix=the+dirt%3A+journey+of+a+m%2Caps%2C180&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_23
Mike’s other titles, including The Crippy, The Mind Altar, and Canyon Calls, are available through this website or through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002
Four of his short stories have recently been published online:
Lies, Ltd. has been published by The Mystery Tribune @ Lies, Ltd.: Literary Short Fiction by Michael C. Just (mysterytribune.com)
The Obligate Carnivore has been published by the Scarlet Leaf Review @ Category: MICHAEL JUST – SCARLET LEAF REVIEW
I See You, Too has been published by the 96th of October @ I See You, Too – 96th of October
Offload, a short story about a man who can heal any disease, is now live and can be read at The Worlds Within at Offload – The Worlds Within