He was a martyr and a hero, a farter and a zero. He relished his principles above all, a man lauded for his iron integrity. While others wavered, he remained steadfast and true to his position. Many found great comfort in this, feeling pulled into his gravitational field of influence. "He's so sure of himself! Who can resist?"
In a confused world of cloudy greys fogging the mind, his clarity cut through and dissolved the mist. Hesitation was nonexistent. His eyes sparkled with a secret knowledge. His resoluteness caused even his most ardent critics to question their questioning of him. "Is it true he knows something I do not?" He called out his foes as delusional fools who will one day be wiped clean from the face of the earth by their own destructive nature. This was a man who came to divide, a man who knew without a doubt as to his fate.
"Our enemies are many and our friends few - but together we suffering few stand strong!" Wild applause erupted from his surrounding supporters in the street. "You have heard the outrageous slander heaped upon me, how I've been called an idiot, a deluded dreamer, a man who knows not what he does. They say I must change my position. But I say they speak only of themselves!" More enthusiastic cheers and applause. "I shall suffer these slings and arrows for what I know is right and true. I speak from the heart while they speak from a place of bitterness. It will not end well for those demons!"
The crowd buzzed with excitement, intoxicated by the public justification of their lives. To be released from the ever-present gnawing inner doubt that hampered and hindered their lives with a constant agony was a relief beyond compare. Tears streamed with ecstasy. Onlookers marveled at the display of faith. Surely, these were a blessed people favored by God. The showman continued.
"I'm doing what they say can't be done!" A derisive laughter was had at the expense of the non-believers. "They said I would die. Do I look dead to you? They thought they could defeat me with their negativity and fear-mongering. But I stayed the course! Who's laughing now, my friends? Answer me that!" The crowd was reaching a state of near delirium. After a lifetime of being told they were wrong, here was a man proving them right! To at last be in the right, to be out from under the fascist liberal thumb that dominates their lives, was a release beyond compare.
"I have a dream! A dream that came true! A dream that shows we have the answer. We are the seekers of truth, daring to believe even when derided by our fellow man! There are those who lay down their version of reality with dogmatic demagoguery, ears stuffed, eyes closed, and a stiff neck. But today, our light shines through!" The roar from the crowd was deafening. The kingdom of heaven was within their sight promising everlasting life. They had not chosen the path of death, after all.
"The rope has finally broken and they said my death would come of it. Yet it is life I have! And all of you who believe as I will have life too!" A lusty cheer showed the crowd's joy. "Like our Savior said, it is good news I bring you! Tell everyone you are saved! Shout it from the mountaintops! Witness to every soul you meet how you have found The Way. Let them know how you received God's justice!"
And that's when the piano from a hundred stories up finally fell on him. For years he enjoyed rebuking the "negativity" of those who told him he stood in a unsustainable position. They told how the rope will break and he would meet his doom. But the more they spoke, the more he stiffened his neck, refusing to admit any error. He railed without compunction against all criticism in a furious backlash. He swore up and down that to move would deliver unto him a humiliating fate and his foes sought to engineer his demise.
But his "treacherous enemies" were his friends - and his "loyal friends" his worst enemies, telling him he did well following this path to ultimate ruin. Those who had viciously chastised the truth-tellers for "callously hurting that man's feelings" were exposed as callous offspring of Judas. In the end, despite who won or lost impassioned arguments, Nature served her own justice. As always in a world turned upside down, those furthest from God most needed to claim to be nearest.
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