End of the Line

 

                                                                The never-ending line.

The cartoon strips above can be enlarged.

There are many versions of our struggle to continue. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Narrator: Throughout the millenia of human history, religions have arisen from the divine to the diabolical. Their tenets have offered hope, meaning, and guidance to the faithful.


Luna Pedestrian 2: But, what if waiting in this line has no meaning? What if it's all for naught?


Queue Church Priest: Lift up your head and be of good cheer, neighbor. For I say unto you that we are all in this line together, and even as we speak, souls at the head of the queue are being blessed by attendance at the Great Bar of Judgement and License Renewal!


Sign: Stay the Course


Luna Pedestrian 2: But the line is so long! How much longer do we have to wait?


Narrator: Not many license agencies can boast lines long enough to spawn religions. Count your blessings, fair reader.


Sign: Queue-Jumping is a SIN


Queue Church Priest: Some wait longer than others, and some do not stay the course.


Luna Pedestrian 2: You mean they get out of LINE?


Queue Church Priest: They do. And their places are lost forever. They may repent, however, and return to the end of the line.


Queue Church Priest: From such we learn the importance of staying on the straight and narrow queue. Those who go astray may still be saved, but their path back is longer and more arduous than that of the righteous!


Sign: No butts No cuts No coconuts


Queue Church Priest: And now, my child, I think you should learn of the prophecy of the chosen ones. We have been taught that someday there will be a great battle, and that afterward gleaming saviors will bring us all to the Bar of Judgement and License Renewal at once.


Sign: Placard courtesy of "Signs of the Times"


Luna Pedestrian 2: But when will this happen? How long must we wait for these saviors?


Queue Church Priest: I doubt they will come in my lifetime, but still I keep the faith.


Sign: The end is near.


Shep: Awright, people, listen up! The line is being shunted that way. We'll get you all cleared out in a few hours, but you've gotta move.


Queue Church Priest: Oh, rapture! I can see people receiving licenses even now!


Luna Pedestrian 2: Well, thanks for the nice lecture. I'll be moving along now, old man.


Sign: This space for rent


Narrator: Some religions last longer than others.

I heard this story long ago but was reminded of it when watching the lines and lines of people going to the San Diego Comic Festival.  Want to talk about lines? Standing in line with anime characters Luna, Artemis or Himawari, movie characters Groot, and Thor is always interesting, but I feel underdressed. Thor was nice, though. Let me hold his hammer.

C is for Change

Let's see...spring forward...fall back...dammit.

Change. 

The day this was written was the “time change day”, the spring forward an hour.  Everyone and their brothers hate this one.  The fall back day is fine with most people, but it takes weeks to adjust to this new hour forward change.

Most people aren’t happy with change in any form.  As a people, we like our schedules and routines:  Coffee at a certain time;  Leaving work at the right time;  Eating our comfort foods. 

Pretty straight forward

We are creatures of habit, and change is an irritant, a grain of sand in a place that can’t be reached.

Years ago at a school where I taught, a new math curriculum was introduced.  “Changing to conceptual understanding will help students…”

A fellow teacher stated (about the integration of that fancy new math curriculum), “Change is good!”  Trying to be positive, I guess.

I'm with 'ya, kid.

After two years of using an expensive, cutting-edge curriculum, students couldn’t add or subtract.  Another program quietly took its place.

Change is sometimes painful.  And expensive.

Okay...I see where you're going with this....not sure I want to...

My mother died one year ago today.  Yes, April 3^rd, 2011.  I had received a photo of Mom on Valentine’s Day when she was voted “Queen of Valentine’s Day” at her care facility.  She glowed with joy and pleasure, and she was beautiful. 

Then, six weeks later, I stood by her bedside, holding her hand.  The woman in the bed was my mother, but she wasn’t.  Pneumonia combined with COPD had melted her down to a pale faded leaf, ready to be blown away.  When Mom took her final breaths, change happened.

I am just learning more about the procedures of posting photos and copyright infringement.  Forgive me, photographers, for my slow learning curve.

Her generation is leaving the stage, and now my generation has moved up to take its place.  The whole damn queue is moving up with us, waiting in the wings for their turn.

No, change is inevitable.

How about you?  Are you one who thrives with change?  Or one who fights, kicking and screaming, when change happens?