Imagine if instead of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the tomb he was actually taken away by a rogue Chinese space station like the one named Tiangong-1 expected to crash into the Earth’s atmosphere at any second. Tiangong-1 translated means “heavenly palace.”
“He is risen” would take on a whole new meaning. The cheerful chant used by Christians to greet each other on Easter Sunday in celebration of the good news that Christ’s death was not in vain would have a caveat: “He is kidnapped,” or maybe “he is a communist.”
The point is things change. Even the greatest story ever told can have a plot twist.
Every day can feel like April Fool’s Day because your president is running the White House like “The Apprentice” reality show and a federal judge gets called an “imbecile” by your governor because he disagrees with a preliminary decision in a lawsuit.
The good news that’s real is “to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Have faith – we can write these characters off the show.
“I didn’t realize I could buy the president so cheap, a night in his hotel and he’s in my back pocket,” Gov. LePage told WGME-TV in response to the judge’s ruling in a case that may implicate the LePage administration and once again embarrass us.
“That’s all I’m gonna say. The judge that did that is an imbecile! He’s a complete imbecile. That’s all I can tell you. Any District Court judge, whether it’s state or federal, puts that in the paper because I stayed in the hotel is an absolute imbecile. I hope it goes national. I hope he hears it because he’s an absolute imbecile.”
If only that was all Paul Le- Page would say. If only he and Donald Trump and all the other angry loudmouths stomping around the world stage with clenched fists as they do nothing to promote peace, reduce gun violence, eradicate the opioid crisis or address the growing divide between the haves and the have nots – while living large on our tax dollars – would be seen but not heard.
LePage spent thousands of dollars to stay four nights at the Trump International for the purpose of convincing Trump’s team to ditch the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, and lucky for us he failed like he’s failed at almost everything he set out to do. “Imbecile” is not a word Paul LePage should utter to describe others or throw around lightly.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the Heavenly Palace were a place where all strongmen, idiots and blowhards could be shipped? A place where our bad characters could go and get lost in orbit and forever eradicated from our memory like George O’Malley from “Grey’s Anatomy”?
My Easter message is have faith. Our next chapter is being written today by the brave young people who have seen their friends and teachers killed at school. These kids and their families have rallied tremendous energy and political power in the fight against senseless school shootings and are savvy to the ways of the new social order. The immediate and harsh repercussions felt by Fox News host Laura Ingraham for capitalizing on tragedy and profiting from human suffering were fierce and immediate.
There is hope brought to us daily by people of all ages who summon the courage to stand up and speak out for justice, civility and human dignity in the face of the pestilence of today’s politics. It’s been a cold, dark winter but buds are showing up and we can show up, too.
The good news this Easter Sunday is that we have the time and the treasure to write our next chapter to include the unhappy exit of the ship of fools.
Cynthia Dill is a civil rights lawyer and former state senator. She may be contacted at her website:
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