Land of confusion.  That is the way I would describe the United States and what we’re all going through.  Most days I feel like I’m a little deck hand on a ship headed for a strong hurricane and everybody around me, especially the Captain, has no idea…or at least doesn’t seem to let any of us on the boat know he does.  What is he?  Oblivious?  Egocentric?  A hurricane follower?  I’m beginning to think a little of all three.

If the Captain’s oblivious then I have to ask, why doesn’t he see that the wind and the rain and the waves are getting heavier and stronger?  Doesn’t he at the very least just see it?  And if he can at least see it, why doesn’t he ask those around him, perhaps his Co-Captain or the myriad of other staff he has awaiting his orders, the question of what is going on?  To get on the ship’s loudspeaker and proclaim that we’re going into smoother waters and that soon, with his help and his myriad of experience and wisdom, we are better off for it and to even enjoy the ride is SO oblivious one has to question the whole reason he even became a captain.  The Titanic was full of voyageurs partying and dancing still after the ship hit an iceberg.  Perhaps the Captain is as oblivious as those who are riding with him.  He isn’t a one-man show, as baffling and confusing it is, but he has supporters who beg to get near him and help him steer the wrong way!  It seems everyone’s oblivious!

If the Captain’s egocentric then he’s bound to see us approaching this hurricane but doesn’t care.  A person like that would just love to see us at the brink of disaster and be the one who saves us.  He would love to see us scream and hold on, sway from side to side, search for our loved ones, and be the ultimate savior.  He might actually really believe he is the only one to get us through the hurricane.  But while he’s doing that, what would be better than to rip his staff and fellow sea-farers apart, hating one another, so he might be the one to prove that he and his staff are right in the end?  That we were needlessly hanging on with our own dear lives because we, presumably, didn’t understand the winds and the rain and the water as well as he did?

What if he was a hurricane follower?  What if he caused the controls to malfunction and those around him to be caught off guard because he enjoyed watching everyone clamor?  He enjoyed hurricanes because he was brought up to believe that was his destiny?  What if it was his intention (or not even his intention but rather a force beyond his control was leading him and he didn’t even know it), what if his intention was to sail the ship into those treacherous waters so the ship would capsize and all the people would die (perhaps even him)?   I mean, after all, that ship didn’t even belong in those waters.  Perhaps he knew all along that HE would be the one to rid those waters of that nasty, filthy, infidel-ridden massive ship?

What if it WAS all three?  What if, because he didn’t feel the ship had a right to belong in that sea, he was the one who would let us think we were safe while we were partying and carrying on, and he was the one who was so headstrong about it he didn’t even know it himself (oblivious to his final deed) and the whole while loved what he was seeing?  Like Hitler who loved that his followers tripped over themselves to please him, that even to his utter amazement couldn’t believe how much power he had and began to not only embrace it but require it?  Hitler wasn’t born with the idea to rid the world of Jews (even though he was one), he was caught off guard himself and as people began to rally around him began slowly to wonder if he, indeed, was the Christ!

Regardless of the Captain and his motives, we are going down.  We have hit that iceberg.  There is a hole in the side of our ship the size of 17 trillion dollars.  We are dancing and drinking and cursing and spending and having sex in the middle of the floor!  Some people see it.  Some people have their life preservers on.  Some people are choosing to write their final words on a napkin.  Some people are shouting GET READY at the top of their lungs!  Some people are doing this – preparing – and even being laughed at and taunted for it.  Most people WILL die.  Will you?