“So who’s getting shocked and awed now?” my friend Langston was asking when I stepped into the barbershop. “I’m telling you,” said Brother Steve as he worked the clippers, “if we don’t get him out of there, this president is going to get us all killed.” The amen corner was in full session.
“I know you know what we’re talking about, C.B.,” said Langston as I sat to await my turn. “Don’t care what scripture you read, they all bear witness that God has all power over the heavens and the earth, not to mention us poor creatures. And Bush has messed up so bad in Iraq that the Almighty has unleashed the forces of nature.”
“But people want to act like what’s been going around ain’t coming around,” said Brother Steve. “Talk about being in denial.”
“Yeah, well, you can’t deny hurricanes,” Langston said. “And did you hear about those earthquakes in California the other day? Now Mount Saint Helens is smoldering? Who is more patient than God? But there is a limit. People want four more years of this president? They better wake up to who’s really in charge.”
“You heard after Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, how a lot of people were saying their places looked like they were hit by an explosion?” said Brother Steve. “That’s when I realized we can’t keep ignoring the signs. Thousands of homes destroyed, condemned and damaged. Think of all those people with no place to live. I was watching one report where they said an area looked like it had been bombed out.”
“Just like we did to all those innocent folks in Iraq,” Langston replied. “Think back when George Bush dropped that first gazillion-ton bunker buster bomb on Saddam’s palace in Baghdad, like there was some force field to protect all the other people living around it. And the cat wasn’t even there.”
“And every time we bomb a neighborhood trying to kill one fanatic, innocent people are found dead,” said Brother Steve. “But our military people just argue about the number of women and children we killed until they get forgotten by Hanif’s buddies in the media. Why would Bush even put our servicemen and women in such a morally indefensible position?”
“Some folks can rationalize anything,” said Langston. “It really ain’t no different than back when those so-called Christians, Muslims and Jews were selling us across the ocean in the name of God. But you notice where these storms are coming from, don’t you? Right off the coast of Africa, with Florida in their sights all the way. Check it out: Not one, not two. Four. Major hurricanes, all hitting right here, where they stole the election. I’m telling you, the only one really scared me was Ivan. That was a big bad boy. Raised hell all up north and then doubled back to the Gulf for another go-round.”
“And you saw how Frances just grinded on us for ages?” said Brother Steve. “Just like our military has been grinding on those people in the crossfire over in I-raq. We can’t give them their lives back, nor our soldiers who come back maimed and disfigured. Now here we are. Americans. Scrambling to get relief thrown to us from trucks. Like we was in Rwanda or someplace. And the TV people talkin’ about ‘What did we do to deserve this?’ They just ain’t making the connection.”
“I hear a lot of pastors been making the connection,” said Langston, “much as they can without getting too political.”
“There was a whole lot of praying going on around here not long ago,” said Brother Steve. “Still is. But most the people gone back to every distraction man can make. Reminds me of all those people who came out to sit in the shade drinking wine and talking trash every day while Noah was building the ark.”
“I saw all those letters to the editors in your paper, Hanif,” said Langston. “All that malarkey about the Arab people hatin’ on us because of our freedom, and we got to get them before they get us. I know y’all supposed to run all points of view. But puh-lease. It’s like we need Muhammad Ali to go on TV saying ‘I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong,’ all over again.”
“Well, we’ve been put on notice of what we should really be scared of,” said Brother Steve. “Our country already is getting whipped for letting Bush invade another country and not holding him accountable. Now, he’s running against a guy with no scandal in his background, who knows what it’s like to fight for his country. The dumb Democrats who gave Bush a chance have seen their mistake, and every other Republican I know wants him out. So barring another ‘fair and balanced’ Florida election, I predict a Kerry landslide.”
“Well, we can make the wrong choice if we want to,” Langston said, “but America will only be bearing witness against ourselves if we put Bush back in. C’mon C.B., join in this sermon.”
No need, I said. You’re preaching to the choir.
