Whore of Babylon
“It's in Revelations, my friend. The truth burns your ears.”
This is my work mate, call him David, and he is my vision of Falstaff. As in Sir John. Round, good natured, jolly, with a story to fill the slightest pause, the slimmest opening.
“Did she not wear a purple dress and pearls at the inauguration? “
Now, if you think Vice President Kamela Harris' choice of dress color was a fashion statement, or a nod to the purple bipartisan promise, my friend David disagrees. He sees it as more sinister proof. “Obviously a sign that she is the Whore of Babylon. The Mother of Prostitutes. She wore a purple dress and pearls. Look it up.”
I did look it up and indeed the passage from Revelations he pins to Kamela goes something like.. “the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.” Ouch. Are the scriptures really rated PG?!
Now you may think my workmate is an outlier. I hope he is. But in the lumber yard that pays my mortgage, there are 8 forklift drivers and loaders, At least 3 of them agree that her dress is an ominous sign and that as the scriptures will have it, a beast of some sort (with 7 heads and 10 horns) will eventually take her down.
I pinch myself lest I forget that political and religious vitriol are just expressions of brand. An outfit or shield that covers more tender truths. Of course I judge Davey because I enjoy feeling smarter and more reasonable. But I have known him for 3 years and really kinda love the guy. He is funny, predictable, reliable. His butt crack gets a lot of air time and is a constant source of shameless jest. He races on his chariot for a morning joust with his one liberal buddy. That would be me. Today it was “Did you see the babies being dropped over the fence? I am paying taxes to bring up their damn children?”
What to do my friends? This is our world. It is all OK. Look again and tender truths are in plain sight. Don't you think?
