Done With All That

[Previously posted on FB, this was written on behalf of all those who, for whatever reason, can’t seem to express it for themselves. Please note that while many are through with many things, the faith isn’t one of them – F.R.]

I’m done with the parties, the parades, the picnics, the potlucks, the pep rallies, the pomp and pageantry, the plastered faces, and oh, so plastic smiles. I’m done with the games, the concerts, the gimmicks, the carnivals, the booths, the giveaways, the bazaars, the spectacle and all the other circus-related antics and fanfare you and your lackeys have concocted to keep us preoccupied, conceited and distracted.

You can keep your activities, your festivals, your anniversaries, your “fun” days, your “meet my pet,” your neighborhood block parties, your drives, your self congratulatory, self promotional never-ceasing campaigns, your hopeless hoopla, your whoop-ti-dos and ooh la las, and worldly and worldwide selfish ambitions and all that jazz.

I’m done pretending.

Isn’t it exhausting posing for photo after photo, or video after video at event after event? Enough with the photo ops, video messages and the obvious and obnoxious hero worship propaganda. If I had to hold up another pamphlet, wave another flag or make another greeting, you’d see raised fingers alright, but it wouldn’t be thumbs.

Fellowship has never felt so fake and so forced. We want a faith, not a farce. A religion, not recreation.

I’m done with INCMedia, INCinema, INCRadio, INCelebrities, INCollab, INCKids, INCThis and INCThat. How about INCGimmeABreak? No more of your podcasts and travelogues and YouTube skits. Imitation news, imitation TEDtalks, imitation “The View,” imitation Sesame Street, imitation Olympics and ESPN, imitation movies and TV shows, imitation award shows, and imitation red carpet galas. I won’t join your imitation fraternities, associations, or clubs or programs. The world should imitate us, not us imitating the world. What’s next, Real Housewives Of The INC?

I can no longer abide with more contests and competitions, cook offs, and conferences, meetings after meetings, after special gathering after special gathering. I’m through with the chanting and cheering, the rah rahs and going goo goo and ga ga over every spirit-depleting “worship service” after every soul-destroying WebEx. Imitation leaders playing imitation politicians, running for imitation public office.

I’m so over all of it.

I’m done with the bigotry, hypocrisy and xenophobia. Done being insular and ignorant. Done with the paranoia, suspicion and mistrust. Done avoiding friends and family. Done being dishonest. Done playing the fool and keeping up appearances. Done being a pawn, puppet and patsy to all your scheming and scamming.

Those days are DONE. “Calgon take me away!”

It’s back to basics, back to reality, back to FUNDAMENTALS, and back to the drawing board. Back to what it must have been like in the “good old days,” when the FOCUS was purely on God and worship. None of the present day mania, theatrics and hysterics. Freed from the frivolity and superfluous, the spiritual comes to the forefront, takes priority and NOT the ritualization of the sensual, the social and the sanctimonious.

To be released from all that nonsense, I’m reminded of that old Alka Seltzer jingle: “Pop Pop Fizz Fizz, Oh what a RELIEF it is!”

And it is a RELIEF.