The Sea Is Red


Dear Eugene,

Flooding is so extreme in Buzi, central Mozambique, that the water can be seen in satellite images from outer space.

From outer space...where God is?

Biblical red, the sea of flood.  But still, there's more non-red.  From God's perspective, is the red small?  From ours it certainly is.  The picture zoomed in, that's all.

We all zoom out, zone out, to stay healthy and happy.

If a tragedy befalls my friend I can express my vicarious discomfort only so much before becoming dishonest, "cringy."  I care, but not that much, not enough to follow you down the path of sorrow and bear the cross with your name on it.  It's spring break: you know no matter what I will need to post beautiful pictures of my blissful journey to bless the world.  To show off my beatitude is my best way to showcase God's blessingness, my vote of confidence that life is still consequential and sometimes charming despite all.  Despite you, my friend, and your small sad show.  The flood will subside, the blood stop; let's wait it out, and we will talk happy again.

Is it a "sad" movie?  People asked me about what I was planning to show at church, movie night.  I don't answer question like that.  It's like pointing at a person and say Isn't that a sad human being, a sad life, a sad bundle of bouncing material, wiggling sorrow?  To label a movie "sad" is to say this world is goddamn unlivable and we might as well put a sticker on her forehead to warn everyone concerned.  Yes, there're sentimental bullshits in the theater but life's demand is much more nuanced than that.  There is no line in the sand, no demarcation between red and non-red.

We are all inflicted despite trying our best to not be implicated.


 

You said that you were with me
You said you were my friend
Did you really love the city
Or did you just pretend?
You said you loved her secrets
And her freedoms hid away
"She was better than America,"
That's what I heard you say

 You said, "How could this happen?"
You said, "How can this be?"
The remnant all dishonored
On the bridge of misery?
And we who cried for mercy
From the bottom of the pit
Was our prayer so damn unworthy
The Son rejected it?

 So gather up the killers
Get everyone in town
Stand me by those pillars
Let me take this temple down
The king so kind and solemn
He wears a bloody crown
So stand me by that column
Let me take this temple down

 You said, "How could this happen?"
You said, "How can this be?
The chains are gone from heaven
The storms are wild and free."
There's other ways to answer
That certainly is true
Me I'm blind with death and anger
And that's no place for you

 There's a woman in the window
There's a bed in Tinseltown
I'll write you when it's over
Let me take this temple down
You said you loved her secrets
Her freedoms hid away
She was better than America
That's what I heard her say

Amen.

Yours, Alex

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