The Inhumanity of a Ferrari

The Inhumanity of a Ferrari

I'm just as funny as P.J.,
but not as nasty.
O'Rourke hit the nail
on the head
for me
when he complained
that the
Sports Car club of America
wouldn't let you drink
and race
at the same time.

Which just spoils
all the fun.
Ricky Bobby knows
what it is really
all about.
So does Jack Black.

We are animals
and have animal urges,
but we have to spend
most of our energy
controlling
(if we're smart)
or denying
(if we're not)
them.
It's the denyers
who cause all the trouble.
It's the denyers
who suffer.

We all have the snake
at the base of our brains,
with onion like layers
of socialization
covering it all up.
To pretend that our fantasies
are going to
"bring peace" or
"end hunger"
is nothing but
schizophrenia.

Those who pretend
that they are going to
"change the face of Christianity"
are absurd.

The only way
to honor diversity,
tolerance,
and love of God,
self and thy neighbor
is to practice those things.

It's just like learning
to play an instrument.
If you want to learn
to play a flute
or a hammered dulcimer,
you practice.
You don't sit around
wishing you could just
walk into a party,
sit down at the piano
and rock out.
You practice
beforehand.
One only needs
a most cursory skimming
of history
to see this.

Great fantasies
like saving your soul
and going to heaven
lead to thousands of years
of bloody conflict
added to thousands of years
of bloody conflict
already endured
by the sane peoples
of the world.

Great fantasies
like the french revolution.
Liberte Egalite et Fraternite
et Madam Guillutine.
Non?

Half a million dead
to "free the slaves"
and create the KKK.
Turning the black population
from an economic asset
to a despised
and abused minority.

Purifying the race
by murdering 6 million,
which is ironic because
according to the Bible,
(which I take as mere human opinion
and not necesarily God's word)
Joshua,
when he fought the battle of Jericho,
started it all
by deciding that
the proper thing to do
when he got his troops
to the promised land
was to kill
all the people
and take all their stuff.

I, personally,
don't believe the Holocaust
was any big change
in human behavior.
It's not the Jew's fault.
It's not the Republican's fault
It's not the Nazi's fault.
It's just the way it is.

Much as I'd like
to take a Ferrari
and a bottle of Wild turkey
on a wild ride
along Lake Washington Boulevard,
I don't.

I don't because
I believe
that we are all in this
together.
That the laws
are for the protection of all,
and...ummmm,
actually
I don't think
I'll ever be able
to afford a Ferrari

We could,
of course,
be nice to each other;
but that takes
real courage.

Doug Palmer