Eating The Chocolate Bunny: No Profound Easter Message Inside

It's Tastier Than A Fortune Cookie, 

But Still Leaves You Hungry 

For Something More Meaningful

The triumph of Madison Avenue (advertising) is in its ability to take something so frivolous, so inane, so inconsequential and make it into something universally loved and, therefore, marketable.

Easter is neither frivolous nor inane. And while the concept of a dying-and-rising god has been used before, it is not inconsequential to those who believe it. No, Easter is a joyous, but solemn event, one that affirms a very strong set of beliefs. It is a time of hope and love through God, man and nature.


A rabbit that magically sh*ts colored eggs is frivolous. It is ludicrous. It is totally inconsequential. It is a totally fake, pastel, rendition of spring without even redeeming pagan qualities. With the exception that he represents the Holy Grail of marketing, the Easter Bunny and his milieu do not serve as anything else but icing on a cake that does not exist. He reigns in chocolaty goodness over self-indulgence while sitting on a golden throne of greed. His history as the symbol of fertility has long given way to second-rate graphics illustrators and Beatrice Potter. In meaning, Santa far surpasses this ill-bred hare.


According to historians, the concept of an Easter Bunny originated in the Alsace part of upper Germany. The tradition of children making "nests" for the Spring Equinox (Easter) whereupon the next day they would find brightly colored eggs was brought over by German settlers to the Pennsylvania Dutch settlements and the nests became "baskets" over time. The parallels to Kris Kringle were not lost to the earliest of Madison Avenue habitues: jolly ole' elf and warm fuzzy bunny, both bear gifts to kids (although it may not be wise to ask where the eggs were previously). The retail season also needs a boost at that time, it being after Valentine's Day in that lull before Mother's Day. And the world loves pastels, so dry goods sales can get rid of those awful cottons nixed by current fashionistas.


So even with all the cardboard fakery isn't it fun to indulge in a little innocence? The operative word here is, I believe, indulge. Easter indulgence actually puts Christmas indulgence to shame: the gifts are mostly superfluous and there never seems to be enough sugar-coating. Once I tried to bring some actual creativity into our family's egg-coloring by purchasing large (very large) blown goose eggs and batiking them so that they could be displayed year round, maybe even on the Christmas tree. The result: some unusual eggs by disinterested artists who didn't want to see another batiked egg for a long time... and the Christmas tree never saw an egg.


"Alright, give us a break, it's just a stupid holiday." That's the point: holidays (as in Holy Days) are meant to commemorate, illuminate, and drench us with meanings we are too busy or too distracted to entertain. They exist to give us visions of our lives, magnify them, understand them. Thanksgiving gives us pause to think about our joys. Valentine's Day helps us to consider those around us. St. Patrick's Day instills ethnic pride whatever the background. Mother's and Father's Days bring us closer to parents. Fourth of July engenders not only patriotism, but pride in our national individuality. Memorial Day helps us remember and New Years' Day helps us forget. Labor Day signals the end of summer and the terror of another school year. And speaking of terrors, Halloween helps us laugh at them.

The Easter Bunny holiday not only detracts from the religious holiday, it sucks the meaning out of it like some candied black hole. The image of Christ on the cross being offered a colored egg by the Easter Bunny is funny and shocking at the same time (yes, there is a card for it) but commercialism will always strive for a new low with that fuzzy/furry/white/pink/yellow/lime-green rodent. Maybe the real meaning of Easter and its Bunny is to show us just how off-the-mark we can be with things like holidays.


Then again, maybe there is no meaning to the Easter Bunny because there never was a meaning intended in the first place.


You gonna eat those chocolate ears?

God Never Apologizes. ... But Don't You Think It's About Time He Did?

Keith Olbermann gave an insightful special commentary concerning the Rotten Rhetoric that has engulfed politics. I think everyone should view it: he raises some good points and he even apologizes to viewers for using the same kind of militaristic, gun-related rhetoric. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that Olbermann included both Left and Right in his speech and transcended the image of crosshaired gun sights by condemning all violent political rhetoric. It seemed quite inclusive. However, it did not include a vital component of today's American society.

It did not include God.

No, I'm not going all batsh*t-crazy, at least not in a theological sense: with a God who has been the instigator of all things good and bad, apologies are not on the table. Explanations aren't even considered. "He works in mysterious ways" has been the ubiquitous reason why bad things happen to good people. It's lame, but God gets away with doing things simply because He's ...God.

And He's done some pretty horrendous things: drowned innocent animals in the Great Flood, commanded genocide (slaying of the Moabites), condoned slavery, toyed sadistically with Jonah on a bet with Satan, and created the Texas Board of Education. But perhaps the worst thing God has ever done to humanity is to create hypocritical and corrupt apostles, prophets and preachers who will never apologize either: as "representative" "anointed"  even "beloved" shepherds of God, they and their chosen feel they are exempt from guilt, hence, without consciences and are to able to do most anything as long as they rationalize it as "God's will." 

The sins that have been committed against humanity and in the name of God are, like Satan's followers, Legion. History looks a lot like the infinite expanse of dead and dying soldiers in Gone With The Wind: religious strife litters humanity's past and "Peace On Earth, Good Will Towards Men" seems like a bad joke. And it will stay that way as long as there are "men of God" campaigning for the sake of righteousness.

BEYOND WESTBORO

The instance of Jared Lee Laughner's horrendous assassination attempt of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has prompted the MSM to analyze just how much politicians and pundits exacerbate violence with their speech and actions. Notice, however, that not one commentator mentioned anyone within the Religious Right communities: Giffords has weighed in as a pro-choice, pro-ENDA and pro-Health Care Reform. There are over 500 churches in the Tucson metropolitan area, with Baptist (approx. 80), Mormon (90+) and Catholic (100+) churches. What are the chances that none of them campaigned vitriolically against Giffords? Have any of those churches apologized?

Hardly. Not a peep out of any of them. Religious demonizers, like God, never apologize.

And how many of those churches supported Giffords opponent Jesse Kelly who, BTW, sponsored a campaign fundraiser* wherein people could shoot an M-16 for sport? Those churches and the rest of the Religious Right, if called on the carpet, will probably refocus the debate by pointing to entities like Westboro Baptist Church (who have announced that they will picket the funerals of those killed in the shooting). They will use stark contrast to deflect criticism or they will simply take an how-DARE-you stance, like when Tony Perkins ludicrously told the nation that the Religious Right had absolutely no culpability in the suicides of gay teens:

There is an abundance of evidence that homosexuals experience higher rates of mental health problems in general, including depression. However, there is no empirical evidence to link this with society's general disapproval of homosexual conduct.

Perhaps the most insipid lack of remorse for extremely violent message content lies in everything done by a group named Repent Amarillo. I've written about it before, but its last publicity-grabbing escapade deserves to be reiterated: the execution of Santa Claus. "Santa" was really a pinata (to placate critics, of course), but the guns and ammo used were real...in front of a group of children ...who will  probably develop psychoses larger than that of Jared Lee Laughner. No one rushed forward to accuse them of emotional child abuse because they were, of course, acting in the "name of the Lord." 

Rampages like Laughner's help develop a serious time of reflection as to their causes. Violent rhetoric, militaristic terms, virulent attack modes can come from pulpits as well as politicians. We live amidst a slew of God's self-appointed emissaries who have never apologized for their organized religion's crimes and never expect to apologize for their Rotten Rhetoric now or in the future. They may indulge themselves in vicious platitudes of the worst kind while thinking themselves totally unaccountable.

After all, righteous arrogance has its privileges. Just ask God.

 

 * Flier blurb: "Get on Target for Victory in November Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."

Have A Happy Transcendental Holiday, Everyone!

Why is the Christian Right so bent out of shape about Christmas? Of all the stories of the Bible, none has engendered as much worldwide peace and love as Christmas: many wars have been suspended for that one day. People are noticeably friendlier, happier, more compassionate. For at least one day out of the year, much of mankind becomes more human in being ... humanitarian. So why are Christian Right-wingers up in arms about it?

They don't own it anymore. It's one of the few good pieces of PR that they had left and they can't lay claim to it. Christmas transcended them when it morphed into "Happy Holidays" because the true Spirit of Christmas lay in sharing and including everyone, inviting people of all faiths, some with holy-days falling at about the same time, to celebrate mankind and his potential for good. Christmas has also become a time when Original Sin is all but forgotten: guilt does not play the role that it stars in at Easter time. And to many right-wing Christians, Original Sin is the bedrock of Christianity. Original Sin helps them to feel wonderful about themselves when they forgive someone. Yes, take away Original Sin and the label Christmas and they don't have anything left of the holiday to which they felt entitlement. Christmas, or rather the Holiday Spirit, isn't theirs anymore. Not exclusively theirs.

 ***

Does anyone out there remember the Transcendental Meditation craze of the mid 70s? I practiced it for a while in order to deal with stress. I should take it up again. I remember it now not only because of the meaning of the word "transcend" but because I vividly remember the times I actually did transcend from my world to another plane. And whenever I transcended to that plane, it was a jolt, a breakthrough as it were. And after the breakthrough there was a feeling of freedom.

The Holiday Spirit is like that, isn't it? It frees us of the burden of hatred, for even though hatred is easier to achieve than love, it comes with emotional baggage we need to lug around forever. So once we've achieved the Holiday Spirit, we go beyond it and don't think of it in terms of  gifts, Santas, old-time carols or even a babe in a manger. We think of it as freedom and the peace freedom brings with it. 

The Christian Right, however, is still lugging its baggage of intolerance and won't let itself appreciate the wonderful feeling of transcendence. Oh, they think they feel it and crow with a superior sense of entitlement that they above everyone else should know what Christmas feels like. But with their self-righteousness they have built a wall that hinders them from feeling truly free.  And they can't join their brethren who enjoy unconstrained, unqualified love and acceptance.

I guess I should feel sorry for those who are truly "Left Behind" (ala Tim LaHaye), but ... I can't. You see, I'm hindered by memories of "Age of AIDS" Christmases here in San Francisco, when thousands of volunteers - strangers, really - strove to bring as much comfort as they could to people who had been evicted from their homes while they were sick and dying under the guise of "righteousness." It saddens me that I can neither forgive nor forget. Perhaps someday...

"We want Christmas back, it's OURS!"

Sorry, but the Spirit of Christmas, the Holiday Spirit they lay claim to is no longer theirs: it's gone beyond them and is traveling through the hearts and minds of ... everyone else.

Have a Happy Transcendental Holiday, Everyone!