Ecuperating - Chapter 21

“Well!” Jayne began.

“I was born in Boston 35 years ago last August. I got pregnant at 16, married the bastard, and then lost the baby. I lost two more by the time I was 19. The bastard beat on me almost every day until a cop from across the street from where I lived in Warwick, Rhode Island saw him and gave it back to him in spades. He leftI divorced himMarried the cop from across the street. Got my degree via mail order. The cop died five years ago and I started writing. End of story.”

Brett laughed loudly. “Not that short!” he said.

“I want to know who Jayne Rice is; what she believes; what she feels; what she is politically, religiously. What she feels about marriage, divorce, terrorism, diets, the Pope. Who she’s voting for, what movies she likes, what she likes to read. I want to know what turns her on and what turns her off with all of the above. How about politics? That’s always a good place to start.”

“OK,” Jayne agreed.

“I suppose you are expecting the traditional artist’s beliefs; Liberal to the extreme. I’ve never been able to figure that out. All these rich actors and actresses not wanting anyone else to get that way, that is. They want all the give-away programs but don’t give mine away. I’ve got mine. Get yours from the government.”

And writers seem to be worse. They all seem to go for the idea that the world should be a place where the Lion and the Lamb should lie down together. That’s hardly a realistic and responsible reaction to reality. I’m sure they will somedayas soon as the Lamb grows teeth as big as the Lion.

“I guess you could say I’m a realistic anarchist politically. I don’t believe in any government, but I recognize the need for one. If only to protect the weak from people like me!”

Actually, I believe we no longer have statesmen in our government. We only have professional politicians. People who are there for the power. Make no mistake. I find these people to be power brokers who have no compassion at all for the people. Their only goal if they are out of power is to regain it by any means possible. If they have the power; their goal is to retain it by any means possible.

“We have one very important law missing in our vast amount of laws in this nation. That is a law that would make it a felony for anyone holding the public trust to lie to or purposefully mislead the public in any way. This would mean that politicians would have to tell the truth; it means that news commentators could no longer uphold a particular agenda without telling all the truth. It means that preachers, teachers and lecturers would have to tell the truth or face jail time.

It would change the face of our government overnight. No one would have an agenda of lies to get into power. We would have honest people as our leaders once again. What a relief that would be!”

“That’s very interesting,”

Brett said. “I have never thought about such a law. I can certainly see the benefit of it. But what about freedom of speech? The first amendment and all that?”

“I have never seen anywhere in our constitution where the freedom of speech carries with it the right to lie. I am sure the intention of our founding fathers was not to give protection to the liars of the world. The right of dissent is a fundamental right. But the right to mislead or lie is not!”

Jayne made the point emphatically. “You have made a few good points there, but I think the readers might like to know just what you areA Republican or Democrat!” Brett said.

“Let’s say I’m either a Republicrat or a Democrat. I like most of the things about the Republican Party, but I can’t stand their stand on either stem cell research or abortion. Both those stands smack of very fuzzy thinking on their part. And their religious stand is sickening. I expect them to break out into a stanza of ‘How Great Thou Art’ half the time. I enjoy the democrats stand on both of those issues, but abhor their stand on education and most entitlement issues. The fact that most of their top people are much richer than the republican top people sticks in my craw. It sounds a bit two-faced to me. Who am I going to vote for? I’ll let you know after the elections. I never know until I get into the booth anyway!”

By now Brett had out his notebook and was taking notes.

“I like your line about being a ‘realistic anarchist!’” he said.

“How about religion? What are your thoughts on that?”

“Which religion?” Jayne asked.

“There seems to be only about a million of them out there. And they all think they are the only ones that count. This may not be a good idea for me. It’s a touchy subject at best. No matter what you say about religion, somebody gets their dander up. But I do have some definite views on it. I said definite views, not popular ones.

“Right off the bat, I find all religions laughable. Or pathetic. Or funny AND pathetic. Please do not believe for a moment that I do not believe in God. I just don’t believe in an organized religion of any kind. I don’t belong to any church. I give generously to religious charities that are legitimate. I usually check them out carefully to find out what amount is sent to the actual charity they claim to support. I NEVER give to some pathetic Televangelist. These are nothing but charlatans. As are most of the popular churches.

“The popular church is in it for the power they can exert on the unsuspecting public. This is true of all religions, by the way. The more power they have over the public, the more they enjoy the fruits of riches. All of the Mosques and Churches I have seen are very opulent; rich looking and their clerics dress in flowing golden robes. They claim to heal in one hand and collect your dues in another.

“The whole charade is sickening. Especially to a clear thinking woman. All of the churches are led by men. All of them treat women as second class citizens. Hell, the Muslims still have women walking at least one pace behind with their faces covered. The Christians, for the most part, still believe the woman must be subservient to the man.

“The Catholics still won’t allow a woman priest. Why ANY woman would want to belong to that church is beyond me! And that is true of all the religions I have ever seen. On the one hand they talk about being charitable, and on the other willing to kill a person should they believe differently about the Deity. I cannot stomach such beliefs. The really bad part of it all is that most of the world’s people hold one belief or another.