With Easter upon us, I reflect on memories from my childhood as most do during special holidays. It all started this morning when I woke up at 6:00 a.m. after staying up until 2:00 a.m. I found myself slapping the snooze button and then I realized...I fell asleep with my hair wet, wrapped in a towel. At 6:30 I finally got up and walked into the bathroom to begin the process of my daily routine.
I flipped the light switch, squinted my eyes as I went blind only to open them to a horrific sight. I looked like a white Don King.
I brushed my teeth, washed my face and looked again. It was truly an eye opener. The added bonus was the wrinkled towel print on my face from where I obviously slept face down for a long time but I digress. As my day went on I realized a few things. I take that back. I decided to accept a few things. After going to lunch with two of my co-workers/friends, we had a detailed conversation that I'm sure intrigued the guy that sat next to us. It was about religion and would have been very offensive to most people. Ben, who is a Southern baptist, Wendy who is Catholic and myself who was brought up in a baptist church but often visited with the Church of the Nazarene as that was the church my father was raised in. The discussion began as Wendy was speaking about her son's friend and we thought, "That's a neat name". I went on to say that what ever you name your kids marks your kids for the rest of your life. My daughter is laid back and cool just like her first and middle name. My son, well he has no choice but to be serious and responsible as his name is Elijah. I mean, he was named after a prophet. A prophet that brought fire from the sky and raised the dead. Bless his heart. The discussion rolled into the subject of food and we decided...what a friend we have in cheeses. Then we were like Cheeses Christ!
We were having cheeseburgers so it should have been okay, because cheeses saves, right?
Back to the Easter issue. Wendy said we should have went to her place of worship during our lunch break. I was like...but you are Catholic. Ben swore he wouldn't have damnation inflicted upon him for going to a Catholic church. I told them both it was a middle management issue with Mary being the middle manager. Wendy tells Ben that Mary is going to kick his ass and I declare 'Thank God I'm Jewish'. The thing is, I'm not Jewish. So we laughed and continued on just as the guy next to us continued to listen to our conversation.
I went back to work after several antics and shenanigans and was offered a cupcake. It was an Easter cupcake. You can see the picture I've posted as that is the official cupcake that disturbed me. You see, I think it's more like a mini-grave for a clown. How can someone have such a sacred object of faith like a cross along with the Easter Lily on top of a festive pink icing and confetti styled cupcake? The commercialization of Easter, just like Christmas has gone beyond it's intended purposes. I understand the 'traditional' part of the fun. Think about it, Jesus didn't have Santa Claus or an Easter bunny so if you get down to the basics a lot of it has to do with the market value of non-Christian items (i.e. Easter baskets, chocolate bunnies, stockings, Christmas trees...etc).
I'm not going to lie, I ate pretty much all of the cupcake and saved the cross but damn...use an Easter Bunny next time Publix.
