The
Discussion in the Juice-Shop, or “The Orange Convention”
2.
We
are not alone in the shop, but the two young girls who have been already there, and the
two scruffy-looking young men who have followed us there, probably equally interested in
the girls as they are in me, will most assuredly join us. This I prophecy.
3.
“Who
are you, sir?” Asks the young man of the young couple.
4.
“Well, my young friend, I am the Messiah of the Third Millennium of
course, as foretold in the prophecies.”
5.
But
the look in my disciple’s eyes indicates incomprehension, or perhaps denial, it
doesn’t matter, it becomes very clear that I need to explain myself more. I shall not
disappoint. (The Noble Friend prophecies his upcoming death)
6.
“I am a voice in the
wilderness calling for the seeding of a haven, a new haven for those of us who want to
live at peace, with their dignity and basic rights respected.
7.
“I am a passing reminder to the effect that truth cannot be hidden, or
ignored, forever.
8.
“I am the seminally interested observer who finds himself finally too tired, too
bored, and fed to the teeth with his task of just observing and not participating,
correcting, fixing, or at the very least, pointing out the errors and defects all around
us, of which there are many, too many.
9.
“I am a fledgling star, shining forth, enjoying the act of shining,
though it is rather painful, though the universe may not be watching, may be ignoring, or may not even be aware of what is
actually taking place, or of its significance. Still, I shine on. For…
10.
“I am hope.
11.
“I am the one who shall drink the bitter cup this time around, both
for my sake and yours. Every now and then, someone has to, it seems. That is what keeps us
all going. Otherwise… otherwise, what good is life?”
12.
I
can see from the look in my disciples eyes
that my answer is not to their satisfaction. Still, I shall not elaborate any further.
They will understand on their own, someday, perhaps not too long from now.
13.
For
now, they are only supposed to be intrigued by what I do, by what I have to say, intrigued
enough to see, to hear, to follow, and eventually, only eventually to commit. For it is
only after they commit that they could hope to understand.
14.
And
they will understand. They have to understand. It will all go to waste should they not
understand.
15.
“What
if,” asks the baccalaureate student, “what if you were born into a rich family
who made its wealth the right way? Would you still be unworthy of your inheritance?”
16.
“One is not born worthy or unworthy,
one has to show his worthiness. Your
inheritance is not a right, even if the law says that it is. Your inheritance is a
responsibility and you have to prove worthy of handling this responsibility, otherwise you
should pass on this burden to those who are more capable of handling it and are, thus,
more worthy of it.
17.
“Now I think you know well enough what worthiness means, you
don’t really need me to tell you about it, do you?”
18.
“You
know, sir,” asks the guard, “those hunting dogs, as you called them, who came at
you with their guns in hand and might have tried to hurt you. Would it have been right of
me to have pulled my gun in my turn, and showed them that we, in our turn, can do some
hurting too?”
19.
“No. No blood should be shed on my account or in my name. Ever. As for
violence in general, you should know that there are times when violence should be avoided
like the plague and times when it should be embraced like a god, like salvation.
20.
“Let me be specific. In
such an important matter, I have to be specific. We can no longer afford not to be
specific. It pays to be specific.
21.
“In the fight against social oppression, none-violence and civil
disobedience are the answer and the key. Violence in this case will pit neighbor against
neighbor and can lead to civil war, and no one wins in civil wars as we all should know by
now, no one.
22.
“In the fight against an invasion, on the other hand, violence is
evidently the only realistic alternative, until that is, the invasion succeeds and turns
into an occupation. Then, in this case, none-violence and civil disobedience once more
provide the answer and the key.
23.
“For the occupiers have become neighbors, for better or for worth, and
now they should learn to share, to assimilate
and be assimilated, to profit from sharing not from imposition, to earn a living, not to
leech it out. Only none-violence can work to bring this matter to fruition, and its fruits
are much better, than the much celebrated ‘national liberation.’ Learn to be
patient in this case, learn to sacrifice. Make friends of your enemies.
24.
“As far as individual cases are concerned, that is, as far as crime is
concerned, meaning, should a thief, a rapist, or a killer impinge upon the sanctity of
your home, endangering the lives of your loved-ones, so cruelly, so vilely, in this case,
you would better fight like a demon, a demon unleashed shedding blood, maiming, killing,
if necessary. Because you will never be able to live with yourself, never, should you do
nothing and one of your loved-ones should come to harm on account of that.”
25.
Still, and since I really need to be specific here, I have to
mention that, not too long ago, I had to invent a story to make a little boy go to sleep. It was upon the little boy’s
insistence that I invented the story. He knew
I could do that. He knew that I could tell him a story which no one had heard before, and
that was unlike anything that he had ever heard. And so I did, I did tell him such a
story. I told him the story of the little
bird-like people known as the Tweebs who lived on a far away planet and lead a very
peaceful existence. No, they hadn’t always been peaceful people, but they had in time
learned to appreciate and endorse the values
of peace. One day, the Gurks, a warrior race of
ant-like people, on their way towards universal conquest, or so they planned, invaded the peaceful planet of the Tweebs and quickly
subjugated them. Now, this was accomplished fairly easy, since the Tweebs did not fight
back. Their philosophy did not allow for violence, you see, no matter what the
circumstances were. This did not mean, however, that the Tweebs
accepted slavery. Far from it. That too was against their philosophy. For accepting
slavery was the same as accepting violence as a legitimate means towards a desired end. It
was evil. What
did the Tweebs do then, if fighting back was as evil as surrender, which was what
accepting slavery in effect meant? Nothing. That was what they did. They did
nothing. They stopped drinking, they stopped eating,
they stopped walking, they stopped talking, they stopped sleeping. They simply stood still until they eventually fell unconscious and died.
Even when they were tortured, or were forced to witness their loved-ones being tortured,
they still refused to cooperate in any way with the Gurks. After some time had passed, the Gurks had
to accept the futility of their efforts. The stench of the decomposing bodies, the high,
economic if not psychological, cost of such out-and-out self-inflicted genocidal venture
made them realize that they had no other alternative but to leave the Tweebs and their
planets be. They robbed as much as possible of the planet’s wealth on their way out
of course. The experience did not transform them into saints. They were Gurks after all.
Gurks, not Tweebs. It took the remaining Tweebs centuries to
build their life back. But they did eventually. And the story of their foolish invaders
occupied only a tiny paragraph in their national saga. “One
day, the Gurks came to our land, they were still caught in the mighty Grip of Foolishness.
They tried to enslave us, to make us break the law, to
have us return to the Grip. But they failed, they failed and were forced to leave. They
left behind much havoc, much sorrow and anguish, it is true. But all that is gone now.
Only a cold memory remains.”
26.
Could
we ever become Tweebs? Or are we destined to remain closer to being Gurks in nature?
27.
“What
about sex, sir?” Asks the young woman of the young couple, taking everybody by surprise, but showing no signs
of embarrassment, (well, good for her). “What do you have to say about sex?”
28.
Naturally,
everybody is now holding his breaths waiting for my answer, as if expecting some sort of
salvation to come with it. I shall not disappoint.
29.
“Sex is good when you understand it and are responsible about it. Now
being responsible in this case could have different meanings to different people.
30.
“So be it. Who am I to interfere in this matter. Sex is a private
affair. It should remain a private affair. No one should interfere in the private choices
of responsible adults.”
31.
I
see, my answer is pleasing to one and all. Even the guard is pleased, though I would
imagine he comes from a rather traditional background.
32.
But
then he is going through throes of rebirth along with the rest of us. This is indeed the
dawn of a new generation, (one which, I hope, will not be too cola-centered, or
–oriented – a casual note to those of us seeped
enough in
American Culture to appreciate).
33.
(I
see another thing as well, I see that there are more questions in the eyes of my young
female disciple, questions which she is not ready to ask now, questions which still need to be dealt with sooner
or later. The same applies to her young male companion.)
34.
“What
about Paradise and the Hereafter?” Asked
my rock of a diplomat. “What do you have to say about such metaphysical
notions?”
35.
Ah,
a philosophical question. Well, it’s about time I got asked such a question.
Diplomat, you are my rock.
36.
“I don’t concern myself with metaphysical notions, especially
those dealing with Paradise and the Hereafter. I, also, don’t concern myself with
utopian thought. For we can never eliminate evil from life, we can never cancel out pain.
In fact, pain and evil have been tremendous
sources of inspiration to us throughout our tragic history.
37.
“We are imperfect beings, all of us, and life is an imperfect thing,
we have to take the pleasure in it and the pain and just go on living. The best we can do
is to minimize the pain, and to put evil under constant siege, not to let our guard
against it, and, to the best of our ability, try to avoid its ways. Evil here should be
understood as referring to behavior, not ideas, or thoughts.
38.
“Embrace life. Don’t
you dare disdain it, don’t look too much beyond it. It’s all we have. And
it’s good. And yes it can still be made better, it can, and should, always be made
better, for all of us.
39.
“Those who need to believe in Heaven and Hell to handle the pain that
comes with living are free to do so. But they should
understand that not everybody needs to do so, that there are people out there who can
handle life without such beliefs.
40.
“They should never forget why these beliefs emerged to begin with,
they should not make dogmas out of them, and build walls
between themselves and the rest of us on the basis of such beliefs.
41.
“For in this way, they are making life even much more painful than it
has to be. In other words, they are defeating the purpose beyond these very beliefs.”
42.
After this answer of mine, my disciples lose their appetite for more
knowledge, and they fall back upon some meaningless yet mind-easing chatter. I notice,
that my prophecy regarding the young women in the shop, and the scruffy young men has
indeed come true. Well, why not? After all, I am a messiah, am
I not? (The Orange Confession)
43.
As
for the diplomat and I, we proceed to engage
in a long and interesting conversation involving many, many philosophical and not-so philosophical issues. At the end of the conversation, however, I feel the need to confess
something to the diplomat, to let something off my chest, so I would be understood as
clearly as possible later, by at least one of my disciples.
44.
“Do you want to know what I am doing? Do you really want to
know what I am doing? I am letting the wolves loose among the sheep, leaving the sheep
completely unguarded and seemingly defenseless all the while. There are just too many of
them around you know, wolves and sheep that is, wolves and sheep.
45.
“Perhaps, in the aftermath of the feeding frenzy, there will emerge
some sort of hybrid, a hybrid that can be both wolf and sheep, a hybrid that knows when to
be a wolf, and when to be a sheep.
46.
“Or perhaps, I am just hoping that the sheep would eventually learn
how to defend themselves, and not depend on some self-appointed, self-glorifying shepherd,
whose sole aim is to save the sheep so he can have them on his own dinner table.
47.
“This is social engineering par excellence, wouldn’t you say? And
what gives me the right, the authority, to engage in such an endeavor, you might ask? I
don’t know. I really don’t know. Is it my conscience? My madness? My dark-side?
I don’t know. But yes, I do have a dark-side. I am not operating purely out of love,
you know, there is much disdain involved in this. Much disdain.”
48.
Disdain.
Yes, much disdain. Disdain and bitterness. Bitterness and disdain. Do
you think, I just decided to be a messiah one day, because I didn’t have any other
thing to do? Do you think that I spent the days of my childhood dreaming of becoming one day, a messiah? Do you? Do you?
49.
Well,
you are right, of course. You are right. This desire has been fed into me long, long ago,
eversince I was an egg, a fertilized egg lying in some hapless womb.
(Or
was it a carefully chosen one? And if so, by
whom? The God in Whom I could never believe?) No matter. This desire,
this dream, this death-wish, if you will, hatched with me and within me as I hatched, grew
with me and within me as I grew, aged with me and within me as I aged. But
don’t you dare think that it will die with me and within me as I will die. It is not
a faithful companion.
50.
My messiaship is the fruit of some collective
beckoning, unconscious yet real, seeking an outlet, a biological outlet, a genetic outlet.
Then it found me. It found me hiding somewhere, in some hapless twist of fate, in the very DNA of some hapless couple
consummating a hapless, miserable, believe me when I say miserable, affair.
51.
When
I finish telling the diplomat this confession of mine, I find myself suddenly invaded by
an overwhelming desire to leave, to run away in shame perhaps, to hide among the
multitude, like many of us indeed do.
52.
But
before I leave, I feel the need to share one final thought with my disciples. So I stand
up and lift my hands to get everybody’s attention, then…
53.
“You are not simply my disciples you know, you are much, much more
than that. You are my friends, and to me friendship is the noblest of all relationships that can exist between people, for it is based on
choice.
54.
“Not that I despise family life, oh no. For if you can cope with the
trials of family life, you can definitely cope with the ordeal of living at large.
55.
“And if you can appreciate and not take for granted the benefits, the
good things that come with family life, then you can live life in the balanced manner that
will allow you to find happiness, love and
fulfillment. So you see, the whole world begins at home.
56.
“And speaking of home, has any of you visited an orphanage in this miserable part of our world?”
57.
This has been, of
course, a rhetorical question. Its purpose being very clear. Don’t you think?
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lust for salvation, Brother, as though it were a woman, and I - a man.
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