So What if I'm Still Here Tomorrow?

So, what if the rapture does take place later today? Will I remain behind to suffer six months in a hellish condition until the world dissolves into nothingness?

Will you?

I like to think that I live a good life. I don’t go out of my way to hurt anyone, although I’m sure that I still do, unknowingly. But those hurts aren’t physical. I don’t physically abuse or injure others. I don’t instigate fights (I’m too old to win one anyway.) Unintentional hurts are usually ego things; misunderstandings between two humans who merely don’t share the same opinion/conclusion about a given topic.

I don’t cheat or steal. If a cashier gives me change for a $20 and I only gave them a $5, I’m honest about it and return the excess. I pay my bills on time, although I tend to bitch and moan about things like the cost of gasoline, high property insurance and the like, inequities in local and national government laws, etc. I'm still responsible. I never take advantage of others. Is that enough?

I’m not a regular churchgoer … having been indoctrinated by the Roman Catholic Church and “walking away” from it some years ago after my eyes were opened.

Does that imprint my soul as being evil and not worthy of God’s grace?

I’m not a snob. I have several homeless friends, or perhaps I should say “acquaintances,” since the homeless don’t tend to discuss their private lives or share as average people do; panhandlers I’ve met in my travels. I’m not too good to sit and chat with them, or share a cold beer if I’ve just bought a four-pack. That sure beats them drinking their piss-warm brew that’s been out in the sun all day along with them. Does that make me wonderful or, as I’d like to think, an average Joe who merely cares about others, some more than others?

I don’t wish harm, injury or death to others. Even bin Laden’s death didn’t elate me. I took it as God’s will that the man would no longer be capable of planning evil deeds that would take the lives of more innocent people. Is that enough?

I’m kind to animals … oh God I’m kind to animals. I really enjoy their company more than I enjoy people much of the time. But animals, I’ve been told (by the Catholic Church, of course), have no souls. So what good are they?

Well, for one thing, they offer love without strings attached. Unconditional love, some call it. 


It’s always been a wonderful feeling to return home to find my wonderful Foxy Lady, eyes fixed, looking directly at me in anticipation as I entered the laundry room from my garage. Tail wagging, thinking perhaps, “Is he going to take me for a walk? Are we going to play? It is almost mealtime. Wonder what he’ll give me. Maybe he’ll open a beer and let me lick the top of the can. Or, maybe we’ll go into the pool. Oh I depend on that man so much, and I love him so much!”

Maybe we should be more like dogs: eager to offer love and oh so quick to forgive. Would that be enough to “save” me?

I’m reliable and dependable when it comes to my work; my employer. I don’t “pass” on things that I don’t like doing. I give my time for what I get paid.

So if tomorrow comes and I find myself surrounded by heaps of discarded clothing, crutches, abandoned wheelchairs, prosthetic arms, legs, eyes, etc., and in the company of millions of other wretched souls like me I guess I’ll have little else to do for the next six months but sit around thinking, “Where the HELL did I go wrong?”