Getting The Hell Out

IN THE CARTOON, drawn with pencil lines and stick figures, at once hilarious and morbidly frightening, two alien beings are standing in front of their grounded spaceship. In front of them stands a large cross, and upon it, the figure of a person, presumably Jesus, being crucified, nailed to it and hanging from it. The drawing is crude, simple, without refinement or adornment, but it makes the point profoundly. The alien creatures have either landed at the actual cross on calvary, witnessing the event itself, or are standing in front of a monument of the sort one might see in a cathedral, or monument in a religious theme park,or damned near anywhere in the United States of Acrimony. There's no way to tell, and the "reader" really does not need to know. We are free to draw our own conclusions, like in all good art. Either way, the circumstance is equally bizarre. One alien says to the other: "You know what we need to do? We need to get the hell out of here is what we need to do". Sometimes in a cartoon,sometimes in other places and ways, somebody hits the nail on the head, as we say. Whoever drew this cartoon nailed it, hard. That a bloody, ritual human sacrifice serves as the central theme in a major world religion in the twenty first century says much, perhaps too much, about the state of humanity, and human nature. We still cling to an ancient, bloody religion, to the tune of about two billion paople. We cling to tradition. We are fearful little creatures, looking to the past for inspiration and comfort. Supposedly the only species of animal on the planet aware of its own mortality, we do what we can to deal with our transient dilemma and our lives of pain and uncertainty. The two cartoon aliens are not the only sentient beings ecpressing a desire to get the hell off the planet, or at least to some place far away these days. Many similar cartoons depict humans, Americans presumably, begging to board alien spacehips, not to be abducted, but to flee. Canada has reportedly closed its border, and suspended all Visas to Americans. It may not help keep illegal immigrants from the south from pouring into their beautiful country like Latin Americans into the United States. The United States, it seems, is getting some of its own medicine. Problem is, from the Canadian point of view, is that the border, much like the southern border of the U.S., is extremely long, poorly monitored and defended, with hundreds of miles of rugged terrain, and holes through which you can drive a truck, as the saying goes, without the slightest chance of detection. If Americana want to come pouring into Canada by the thousands, illegally, there is nothing to stop them. Tit for tat. Who knows? Maybe the thousands of Latinos and Latinas who sneak into the United States every day would prefer to keep heading north, to a more civilized country, but, having already traveled god only knows how many miles for weeks under extreme conditions, are simply too exhausted to continue. What goes around comes around, as we say. Of course, there are about two hundred other countries in the world, including Mexico. We the fleeing despairing many have choices, if nothing else. Maybe we Yankee gringos can start returning the favor of favoring a neighboring country, Mexico, or an overseas country, with our unwanted presence. With my degrees in European history, I'm looking at Denmark. Why all this? Well, obviously because of Trump, Trump and his multi million member gang of supporters of traitorous criminality, immorality, and hatred. Because the United States of America, after flirting with the idea for decades, has finally given in to temptation and elected her own version of Hitler, just as Hitler was elected by confused, despairing Germans. The social disease of MAGA. Precisely how many Americans will soon become ex-patriots to add to the already roughly nine million living overseas is unknown. Exodus from a sick and divided nation, fallen into chaos, confusion, and despair. Maybe the good Lord will decide when to end this horrible state of affairs, assuming it ever ends. Or maybe the end is now. Like the Doors said in their song "The End": "This is the end."