As Many Words

As Many Words Audio Available!
Ah crap, did I just become a soppy romance writer?
In all seriousness, though, it's something I was thinking about, and I was trying to figure out a social context in which the idea could be broached, when it occurred to me that (despite all indications of my past record) there's really no limit on how short a fictionalized vignette can be, and whipped this little number up!..


Convenience


"Hello, Mr. Dukkins? I'm calling about the service we provide you that you are currently completely content with. At this time, would you be interested in being slightly less satisfied with it through the means of our occasional interrupting your life to try to up-sell you additional products you've shown no indication of wanting?"  

Selective

*watching news report on refugee crisis about "GOP Candidates coming out against supporting refugees"*  TEDDY: "It truly baffles me that it's a valid argument to bring Christianity into American politics when it's basically ONE TINY VERSE buried in the OLD TESTAMENT that kinda admonishes homosexuality, but not so much when it's CORE UNEQUIVOCAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE RELIGION - The Parable of the GOOD SAMARITAN, to name one poignantly applicable example that's only like the most obvious go to Sunday School lesson ever..."

I try not to bring politics into the comic too much, especially considering I'm personally inexcusably under-informed about the Syrian Refugee Crisis, but I've been feeling especially sick of double standards watching the media and internet news feeds these past couple of days--To say nothing of the prevalent trend of a handful of loud bigots giving the soft-spoken majority a bad reputation.


For the record, to paraphrase my dad, the Pastor with decades of theological expertise, the bible is not "very clear" on homosexuality (as I've several times heard it asserted): The bible is utterly uninterested in homosexuality--It objectively has more to say about, to take one example, menstruation- And I think REALLY REALLY HOPE we can all agree that stuff is so impossibly archaic, that to let it guide you today would be offensively laughable.
The bible is essentially two thousand years old (and the old testament's been stewing for six); Any version of it that we're reading today has invariably been translated and reinterpreted far more times than you'd care to count. Responsible reading of it is not about rote parroting of isolated, ambiguous passages: It's about emulating the overwhelming, undeniable themes and lessons. Lessons like generosity and stewardship; welcoming and caring for strangers and people in need; humility and dedication in the face of adversity. ("Love your neighbor as yourself": That one sound familiar?)

Which is not to say the discussion of the American politics regarding refugees is or should be a religious issue, but for my experience as the grandchild of two sets of missionaries, it is impossible to see this situation and not find it deeply evocative of the values I've grown up with. So if we're going to be bringing Christianity into political discourse anyways, can we at least do it genuinely for once, when it actually maybe has some applicability, rather haplessly wielding it about as some flashy prop as has become the all too comfortable norm?

Tropes

"So, I realized something this week..." *Pictures of Teddy as my Shoulder Devil and Allison as my shoulder angel.*


Teddy's shirt has always canonically been blue, but it may have just changed to red...