Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Invocation for gathering is in order

Although not directly related to recent rumbles, this might be a good time for a universal invocation for gatherings on public property.

Since mine does not beseech any specific deity, it should not offend anyone too much (who doesn’t deserve it).

This is simply a framework, so feel free to tweak it to fit your own values (or prejudices):

Dear sir or madame up there somewhere (if you are):

Thank you for allowing us Americans to gather today at (insert event) in such privileged conditions.

Although some of us have tummy aches, at least it’s from junk food and not starvation.

Please give us the wisdom to be content with what we have — a somewhat safe environment (notwithstanding smokestacks, fracking and toxic dumping), reality TV (to avoid reality), and plentiful food (despite mooing and squawking from factory-farm cows and chickens).

Although our food is filled with addictive, non-nutritious calories, we thank you for giving us concrete to pave over enough trees to turn our towns into saunas to sweat out some of them as we peacock down sidewalks in foreign-made fashions — including spandex to accommodate excess calories.

Thank you for giving us engrossing entertainment of grown men in big-boy pants, red caps and white hoods marching with softball bats they batted .240 with in slow-pitch church leagues, open-carry rifles compensating for unaffordable Viagra, and tiki torches originally bought to scare away black flies from booze-bash BBQs charring 30-percent-fat ground beef while bashing brown people for taking away dirty, low-paying jobs they never wanted.

Please give their enemies out-flanking them on the left the insight to let them march without confrontation until they figure out rich slave-owners — including modern-day corporate suits — they revere never cared about them.

If the snowflake pansies do confront them, please give the macho men the wisdom to understand that — in a fair fight — those weapon-less, YMCA-center fanatics will most likely kick their @#$%&.

Please give everyone access to the National Geographic channel (especially faux news fans) so they can get up to speed on appreciating kinship between races, countries and religions (or those who don’t believe in being fleeced), rather than glowering at the beautiful prisms — except for instinctive lascivious looks at scantily clad natives.

Please let people of all cultures, social strata and opinions realize we only co-exist on fragile Earth for a short time, and have the capacity to live in peace rather than conflict fueled by suspicion and disapproval.

Please remind us we are privileged by fate — not earned superiority — and humans everywhere, whose only guilt is being born in the wrong place at the wrong time, deserve love and compassion.

If needed, please thunder-bolt us until we realize the profound mysteries we share far outweigh the superficial differences we blame for our discontent — and our diversity woven together creates a tapestry of togetherness impermeable to rending by ignorance.

Finally, if it is not crossing the line, please temporarily suspend the immutable laws of the universe this weekend to intercede on behalf of our favorite team.

Contact Wendel Sloan at: [email protected]

 
 
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