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Happy Easter everyone. I celebrated by watching The Pianist. Bloody good movie. Holocaustness. Hopefully my one and only window into warfare. Sickening. Blood, blind prejudice, cold-blooded murder, the streets paved with dead. Isn't that just so heartwarming? Yup, Humankind, This Is Your Life!!!
From the beginning, you were faced with pride, anger and temptation. Yup, remember those early days, back when you could count the number of people alive on your fingers. Remeber your fall, when the Serpent tempted Eve to eat of the Forbidden Fruit. Oh yes, those were the days.
Then remember, several decades later? The very first Murder! When Cain killed Abel. Yes, look back on your childhood with fondness. That wasn't the first though, oh no, you were to go on and rape, pillage and murder all the way till the end of your days!
Of course, there is no time to pick out each and everyone of your life works, so let's skip to the largest scale ones. Here we go, the Armenian Genocide! Later to be Hitler's inspiration for the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide nearly wiped out an entire nation! Moving on now to the Holocaust. Ah yes, perhaps the grandest of all, tying in some of the key points of your psyche. Prejudice, cold-bloodedness, the power of langauge in propaganda, so many things, so little time. A reported 6 million Jews dead! What an achievement!
Yes, truly humankind is knee deep in its own litany of lies. Hitler said it was for their own good, and indeed, nearly all of Humankind's motivation stems from the laws of self preservation and self interest.
Hell, the entire economy is based on self interest.
Now, back to Easter, illustrating yet another point in human self interest. Look at it. Easter is now all about the bunnies and the chocolate eggs and all that trash. Ever thought about why? Why its like that? Why is it always on a Sunday, instead of being a set date, like Christmas. Why does it always follow Good Friday? Why is Good Friday good? Ever thought about that? Well, I think I know the answer to all those questions. What makes Good Friday good and why Easter is celebrated in this manner.
Almost 2000 years ago, there was a man named Jesus. In my opinion, the greatest man to ever have lived. He was the Son of God. This news didn't go down too well with the Jewish leaders so they persecuted him. Now, to us, persecution is just a word. Most of us don't even know what persecution is. Think of yourself. Think of having an army of people who constantly bitch about you following you around. Think that this isnt the 21st century so they would beat you given half the chance. Yeah, it was worse than that.
Persecution for him continued for three years. Three and a half actually. 1260 days. On and on. Thing with Jesus is, he was the Son of God. He had the arsenal of heaven behind him. All destruction, all healing, everything. He could have looked at them and turned them to dust. But he didn't. He put up with it. Out of love.
Arsenal of heaven inculdes foresight.
He knew what was going to happen. He knew they would kill him if they had the chance. He knew. And he did nothing. Again out of love.
One night, he went into the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed. Prayed to his Father. For the people, for his disciples and for himself. Three prayers. He knew his time was almost up. He knew what torture they would subject him to. Again, a single word would have brought angels around him and saved him. But he didn't. He knew his mission.
In the garden, he stayed up all night. All the way through, praying, weeping. He sweated blood. SWEATED BLOOD. Think of the worse exam stress you've ever had. Did you sweat blood?
Then came twilight, and in walked Judas, his most trusted disciple. With the Roman army behind him. He betrayed Jesus. The romans took him into custody and he was tried before Pontius Pilate. But that wasn't all.
He was whipped with leather attached to a bunch of metal shrapnel. He was beaten, he was stripped, a crown of thorns was PUSHED into his head. And he was conscious all the while. As blood flowed down his head and his body, he was conscious.
They then made him carry a wooden cross through the streets up to the Mount of Olives. First key phrase: carry a wooden cross. He had just been beaten and blood was flowing and they made him carry a cross. Not a tiny cross either, like the one I wear around my neck. This was twice the size of a man. And he carried it alone. Second key phrase: through the streets. People had been persecuting him for three and a half years. Now here he was, naked, bleeding, carrying a heavy cross through the streets. Pity? you wish. They shouted abuse and hurled rotten vegetables, anything at him. Pelted him with whatever they could lift up. Make that walk up the mount the longest walk in his life. Third key phrase: up to the Mount of Olives. He made it. He got all the way up. Through the abuse, through the torture. He made it. Of course he did, you might say. He was the Son of God. But get this. He never once used any power. Proof: the abusers were yelling at him. "If you are the Son of God, prove it!" They were looking for any sign of divinity. All of them. They were certain he couldn't. So why wouldn't they look for it. It just made them feel better. To know that they were right.
Once up there, they nailed him to the cross. Nailed him. With large iron nails. Through his hands and through his feet. No anaesthetic. Think about that. After all that, they nailed him to the very cross he carried all the way up.
It continued. The abuse, while he hung up there to dry. And he asked his Father to forgive him. Forgive them, for they know not what they do. How's that for loving your enemy? How many of you could claim to that? Forgive the ones who beat and whipped you. Forgive the ones who pushed the crown of thorns onto your head. Forgive them all. Forgive.
Then he died. On a Friday. That was Good Friday.
Thing is, the following Sunday, people saw him walking around. He came back. Just like he said he would. On the third day, he would come back. He fulfilled his prophecy. That was Easter. The day the Son of God came back to life. That is why Easter exists.
Eggs used to be a symbol of rebirth, and they probably still are now. That's how the egg tradition started. That bit is all good, sure. Why not bring some symbolism into the best day of the world. Its what commercialisation has done to it that gets me all pissed.
Firstly, the bunny. Someone please explain this to me. What does what I jjust stated up there have to do with bunnies? And the chocolate. Its all well and good, but honestly. What does the Ressurrection have to do with chocolate? Its all a ploy by companies to get more money. That's what it is. Someone prove to me otherwise. Please.
Commercialisation sucks.
save me
from myself
