 The
Maroon Leaf Monkey - Issue Twenty-Five |
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Circumcision and Zyklon B by Whit Young
I saw Adolf Hitler walking down a street in Heaven last night. I visit Paradise in my dreams occasionally, to see friends and family departed, or just to have a conversation with someone I miss. A ratty, bloodstained uniform combined with a cartoonish mustache confirmed I was looking at the infamous dictator. As I passed him I said, "Hello, did not expect to see you here." He stopped, "The Creator allows us the freedom of choosing our own personal Hell or Heaven. This is mine." I looked around, "It has an appearance of Heaven." He shook his head, "You do not have to face a daily circumcision for six million days." "Must be painful, I assume that number must be tied to the number of your victims?"
He nodded. "That's just the Jews. At least I have anesthetic and it never becomes infected. Things could be worse." "Why did you pick such a horrible punishment?" He looked weary, "The problem with crossing over is you acquire all knowledge, you see history in its entirety, the very comprehension that was a sin for Eve is a norm here. You may not see you are a monster in the real world, but reflecting from Heaven you understand how you have abused your freedom of choice." "Freedom of choice? I don't understand." He gestured and a wooden chair materialized, he sat down and apologized, "Blood loss gets to me early in the day . . . I am just as much a product of the Creator as you are. She makes us, good and evil. Gift of life, gift of consciousness, and an ability to feel, the Creator grants them all." He sighed, "No one tells you with certainty there will be a reckoning, a final judgement. It was my mistake to think my final sleep would lead to unending darkness. I should have looked at the stars more often, to understand their infinity might have led me to think about my possibilities for eternity. I screwed up; I thought when you died, you died." He looked at me, "Six million days is a blink of an eye in the life of our Universe. It just seems like an eternity." "I hear the boiler kicking on at home, that means the heat in our house is about to come on. I'll be waking up in a few minutes. Anything you want to relay to people back in the real world?" "Those terrorists currently in the news? Suicide bombers? You might want to remind them their boss is here. Muhammad's followers don't get to pick their Hell, he chooses for them. Can you imagine being blown to pieces by an explosives vest every day for eternity? There's not enough anesthetic in the Universe to stop pain of that magnitude." Then I woke up.
Whit Young, former Marine, retired hospital pharmacist, and real estate broker, savors life on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The pacifist author of "Lynching at the Legion" and "Penny For Your Thinking," he is working on a sci-fi novel that provides an unusual answer to the question, "Are we alone in the Universe?" |
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The
Maroon Leaf Monkey is found on the southeast Asian island of
Borneo and the nearby smaller Karimata. They mostly live in forests
at altitudes below 2,000 m. They feed on leaves, seeds and fruits
and are equipped with a large, chambered stomach like a cow, which
allows them to digest their fibrous food. They avoid sweet, ripe
fruit because the sugars disrupt the delicate balance of their complex
stomachs. They live in bands of 2 to 13 individuals, led by a dominant
male, and spend nearly all their time in the trees. They have broad,
dark-colored faces with wide, expressive eyes and average between
6.2 to 6.3 kilograms. They are highly territorial and will challenge
any intruders within their home range. Males emit a loud call to
demarcate their territory and warn rivals. This species is under
some pressure from hunting and habitat loss, but they are still
quite common throughout their range. They are protected by law throughout
Malaysian Borneo.