Ugly Packaging

Man was (merely) matter. That was Snowden's secret. Drop him out a window, he'll fall. Set fire to him, he'll burn. Bury him, he'll rot, just like other kinds of garbage. The spirit was gone . . .

                                                                                                                             Joseph Heller, Catch-22

The dying and not-so-pure and innocent boy-man, Snowden, presents Yossarian, figuratively, with an awful truth. Or was it actually an awful question? It is and was this. Maybe there's not much meaning that can be discerned in the midst of absurd realities? Maybe there is very little -- such as a shredded flak jacket, and a sputtering and mortally-damaged flying machine --that is holding a lurching, wind-tossed, and bloody oozing real-world intact. Snowden? Some pure and lillywhite 'snow' ball -- rolling inexorably down hill -- that Snowden guy was.


There is a saying among religious fundamentalists -- Crucial truths from Him often come at ya in ugly packaging. (Like a massive snow urchin tumbling over and over down your hillside, into your chilly lap.) Not the most pleasant and inviting among messages. But the most human of temptations must not be embraced. Do not give in, you; do not gaze away.


Are you the Monster, or am I? -- I think it's both of us.