There's been some review lately about the saying that there are no atheists in foxholes. It's one of those sayings that most of us take for granted; it feels like it must be true, although we know it's meant to be a parable. Let's see.
What we're talking about here is fear.
O.K., you're in that foxhole. Small caliber automatic fire is raking the level ground a foot above your head. It's ticking pebbles and dust and twigs over the edge to bounce off your helmet and shoulders. Sooner or later you are going to have to stick your head up into the middle of that, and you already don't want to. At the same time the ground is just thump, thump, thumping under you with the impact of mortar and artillery strikes. Lucky you , you haven't been hit yet like the guy screaming in the next hole. You've only pissed your self, and in that you find some comfort; in all this madness no one will ever notice.
All of a sudden the firing slacks off, thank God. You manage to raise your head and look up. Boring down on you is an enemy A-10. Already you can see the pathway its Gatling is paving, and it is coming straight for you. Now, whether you scream "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God," or "Oh Shit, Oh Shit, Oh Shit,"it doesn't matter. You are about to be dead, and that scares you shitless. If you thought God could help you wouldn't be so frightened, would you?
O.K., let's modify this a little. Suppose you're just a little pissed off (along with being pissed on), and this Wart Hog homing in on you is just one thing too much. Let's say you have an epiphany, accept you're dead, stand up, and as your destruction comes nigh you raise a certain finger on high. Are you being brave? Maybe your sense of justice has simply been outraged. Whatever. It doesn't appear to me that you are in a religious frame of mind.
I think there are plenty of atheists in foxholes, along with believers. However you are able to handle fear and death is a very lonely and personal thing, and no generality is ever going to do justice or honor to those who have been there.
Regards,
Daddy
Friday, April 1, 2011
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