No one said it would be easy. Life in Sussex County, Delaware, and even in Lewes, the little town on the bay where it meets the big waters, can be complex. Witness the headlines in the Cape Gazette these past two weeks:
Well, if that wasn't hard enough, thinking that (a) Rehoboth - the town down from Lewes that sits RIGHT ON THE OCEAN - had a baby Jesus, worse yet that (b) Rehoboth owned the Baby Jesus, and (c) that some one stole it. Still, for the record: I did not steal it.
The second headline is indicative of a larger problem:
Now we've gone and done it: Used to be that only corporations were faux-persons, now a string of words stands trial like a regular paid up human being.
Somewhere in all this there are issues that make the problems of the Anglican Communion pale by comparison.
What sort of commodity is a "baby Jesus"? Can a town have more than one? What is the going price for a stolen one? Do you have to have special mojo to either steal one and not get struck by lightening or to live with the fact that you can't brag about it and have to keep the baby quiet lest you get caught? And the Lord's Prayer...whoosh... What are the repercussions if the trial goes badly? What if the Lord's Prayer is seen, single handily, to be responsible for the poor state of reading and writing in Delaware? Or worse, what if the LP has to take all the blame and no citizen in Sussex County need fear that they might be personally accused of mean spirited, or discriminatory behavior?
The mind boggles.
Just for the record: I did not steal the Baby Jesus. I might have been tempted to swipe the BVM but she wouldn't fit in my VW bug AND I would never leave Baby Jesus a motherless child.
ReplyDeleteI was originally going to suggest the theft was from a biblical literalist sect that was upset with baby Jesus appearing in the manger before December 25.
ReplyDeleteThen I read that it was a New Year's prank and that a wise man was beheaded as well.
So, no, I gots nothin'.
Elizabeth...glad you confessed that you are not the thief. Wouldn't be wonderful to spring the whole gang and let them rest by the edge of Rehoboth Bay where they could watch the birds and not the traffic? Maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteActually dear one, didn't you confess just a little too quickly? Maybe you just wish you had swiped the bambino magnifico?