As The Light Dims Slowly: A Moment With Bill Reflection

Sometime during the golden slumbers of my night I dreamed. Floating high above Earth, I looked down with sleepy eyes and watched the lights slowly extinguish. No worries I said. Nighttime here is daytime there, and daytime here is nighttime there, and surely the lights will be shining brightly somewhere…but no…everywhere I looked, as the planet revolved on its axis, the lights continued to blink out, replaced only by darkness, darkness, be my pillow, take me away and let me sleep.

But sleep escaped me that night, and fear overtook me, for what does it mean when the light is gone? What can it mean for us all if the light finally fades from view and only the embrace of obsidian darkness is left for us? What can it mean?

The kings were fools, and Presidents and Presidents’ men were tossing the bull, tossing the wool, tossing it all in an attempt to convince the sheep that freedom is for everyone. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer, the corporations sent their henchmen to D.C. to plead for one more tax loophole, one more favorable vote, one more free pass on Glory Road, and with each act of economic tyranny the light grew dimmer.

The golden calf and chief of staff, rhyming Simons with similar quests, pushing aside the common good for the good of one, or a few, and that ain’t no democracy, closer to an oligarchy, and evil lies in the hearts of those who only care for themselves, and ain’t that the way in the good ol’ US of A?

Wall Street, small street, wheeling and a’dealing with not a care in the world for righteousness. Winner take all in this game, folks, so gather round the feeding trough and slurp down the Kook Aid. If you’re a believer then you will cash in; if not, saddle that broken down mare and find your way to the soup kitchen….and we’ll leave the light on for ya….but even that light grew dimmer in my dream.

And God looked down and even He with His 20/20 vision could no longer see the light. He had sent it to all, ten simple rules to live life by, only ten, not eleven, certainly not twenty, but ten, and the people gathered on Sundays and praised the Lord and hallelujah and promised their undying devotion to those ten little rules, then stepped outside that church and all bets were off.

Help the needy? Bugger off you fool; I gave ten bucks in the collection plate and I’ve got deals to make. Help the homeless? You bloody idiot, are you kidding me? Let them work just like I had to; strap on some balls and be a man, that’s what I say, and praise Jesus Christ for the Lord is my savior and he teaches me to lie down in green pastures and oh, yes, the color of money is what, now? Green, baby, green, and a lovelier shade of green has never been known. Turns out the Lord knew exactly what he was saying, and if I’m lying then I’m dying.

The Garden of Eden, as lush a place as ever has been seen, but lushness comes from water and oh, yes, light, and even in the Garden of Eden the light dimmed and the lushness faded and that garden isn’t quite as bountiful as it once was now is it?

They flew across the skies and crawled upon the ground, and killing was for survival and turns out Darwin knew a thing about survival now didn’t he? All was well indeed for a few million years, a flicker of Time’s tail that was, and nature did its nature thing, and the air was clear and the water soothing, flora and fauna knew no limits, the perfect mixture of ingredients and a most pleasing pastry for all to snack upon……

But then…..

God went and experimented, and that experiment was man, and to that man he gave free will, and will is the root of willfulness, like a spoiled child running free and wild, and my oh my did that child ever run free, free to rape, free to pillage, free to despoil all the beauty laid out before him.

And those ten little rules gathered dust, spoken of only when they could be used to validate the excuses and blatant lies and greed that soon ruled the lands, and with each act of godliness the light grew dimmer….and dimmer….and dimmer.

And can it get any worse? Well of course it can my friends, because if man has proven one thing in all the time he has inhabited this planet, it is that he has an unlimited capacity for ruthlessness, complacency, apathy and cruelty. Look all around you and tell me I’m full of it. Go ahead, I’ll wait, give me some reason to hope; give me some reason to raise my hands and rejoice in the glory that is mankind.

But even if I could raise my hands; even if I had an inclination to do so; nobody would see them because the lights are dimmer still.

And as the lights dimmed and flickered out in my dream, fear rushed in to extinguish any semblance of hope. They gathered in their meeting halls and drew up plans for defense. They constructed heavy drawbridges, and cities were protected by giant walls, and if you were a stranger then God help you because the hand of civility was bitten off by greed long ago.

Don’t include them in our protected cocoon; they’re the wrong color and you know damn well they are to blame for all that is wrong. Don’t include that group over there; everyone knows they are heathen and don’t believe in the Lord God Almighty, and if they don’t believe then we don’t believe in them, so screw them and the horses they rode in on. Hurry, men, put more plaster to those walls. Make them thick, now, and man the battle turrets and pass the ammunition….but the ammunition sits untouched for how can one shoot in anger when the light is now completely extinguished and hopelessness is all that remains.

Well of course it was. Look around you; there is still light, right? But man alive it seemed so real. Had me sweating bullets while I dreamed, and you know what they say about dreams, right? Nah, that can’t be true, dreams really aren’t a portent of the future, right? There is no chance we will be plunged into darkness, right? There is no chance we will completely lose our way, right? There is no chance we will forget those ten simple rules, or start blaming each other, or live the remainder of our lives in fear, right? There is no chance we will remain prisoners of our basest character defects, right? We will surely stop eating our young, our aged, our poor and our helpless, right? We will surely see the error of our ways, right, because history is there to show us the way if we only listen…if we only see…if we are only willing.

Right?

2013 William D. Holland (aka billybuc)

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”