A weapon once made
must be baptized in blood,
human,
or perhaps animal,
it matters not
for weapons are made for killing,
both
for protection and for sport,
humans being hunted is a form of entertainment for many,
our news presents it to us every night,
with beautiful
men
and
women
giving us the scoop,
reporting mayhem and death
then
a commercial break
asking us to be real and unique
by drinking
Coke,
or be different and shopping at a nation wide clothing company,
the clothes,
the beverage of those hip,
beautiful,
and of course forever young,
we have nip and tuck
for that,
old women wanting to look young
and men join the mindless march to absurdity,
as if
death could be postponed;
live to a hundred
or
die at 20
perhaps in the end it does not matter,
our lives a mere instant
compared to eternity or the age of the universe,
yes we are violent,
I am,
I also love to watch violence at times,
it speaks to something very primitive and primeval,
it feels right,
though in my inner most being
I know this is not true,
for we kill ourselves with our addictions,
we court self destruction
never learning,
not from history
nor how others play out their lives,
we can desire
what we know in the end will destroy us;
perhaps that is sin,
what we are imprisoned into,
though in the end
we would not want to escape if we could.
so our need for salvation,
as I get older
makes more and more sense,
for it seems that we are lost in a maze of our own making,
with this exception
the joke being,
though I am not laughing,
is there is no way out,
we need
help.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
Holy Spirit Monastery
