What need have I for a God of the poor and downtrod? The world conspires in my favor whether I wish it so or not.
Cooking, preparing simple meals for myself always leads to thought. The motion of the knife through the flesh of the still-living, barely-sprouted potato is meditative, much more so than any deliberate stilling of the mind. The balding white man dressed in finery speaks upon the TV, praising his Aryan Jew.
This is not yours. I want to say. What need have you for a shepherd, you who lords over the world in your very existence? You have almost no hope of ever experiencing poverty, hunger, or the other ills of the world. What is it about the next life that concerns you? Your heaven is here and now. Your clear complexion and filled cheeks reveal just how little your need is for this salvation.
He continues, and any "you" I use is, in truth, a "we". The spoils of the world are gathered at my feet, waiting to be sampled, regardless of my intent.
You have pillaged it. I want to say. You have seized it and made it your own, like so many other things in your ancestors' time. You have taken from it what you wish and re-molded it, re-molded him, in your own image, as successful as any Social Darwinist could hope to be.
Next into the pan comes the oil from a country which I could reasonably see this very year. The means are available to me, not only to buy this luxury, but to traverse the distance to nearly anywhere I would wish, economic conquerers visiting their colonies.
It is not your fault. I want to say. You did not ask to be born a king, you did not entreat your forefathers to do every thing within their power to ensure your happiness. It is difficult to blame our ancestors, those alpha males following their guiding instincts to new riches.
But I cannot understand your love of this God, to whom you have no relation, save perhaps one- you are as powerful as he. Maybe more so, in this world. How is it that you can actually read that book, those hymns, and not fall into a sort of cultural dissonance? With whom in the whole tome can you identify? Your place, yours is of a similar nature to that of Ozymandias.
What need have you, have I, for a savior of the underdogs? We are those who feast at the expense of the world, born into our beautiful privilege, held captive by our advantageous lifestyle. You who can never hope to know the true miseries of the deprived, what succor do you find in the God of the lesser?
In all honesty, I am here on E2 to learn how to improve my written communication skills. If you are going to downvote something I have written, do me a favor and /msg me telling me why. You took the time out to read and then downvote, didn't you? Constructive criticism is USEFUL and DESIRED.