God Hates Us All

1. The Morning Commute

     Precious is a word that is used way too often, abused to the point where some believe it has lost all meaning. The world has become too materialistic for it's own good to the point where trifle things like jewelry, clothing or even a new pair of shoes are stealing what was a great word away from thing that truly deserve to be blessed with such a label. Sharing a sunset with the one you love or looking into the newly opened eyes of a child that just came into the world are things that truly deserve to be called precious, not a coupon for our next over produced and grossly under nourished happy meal. The world had become to materialistic and had been brainwashed by the well paid public relations people to the point where no one could tell what was up or down, good or bad and even true and false. The world was one messed up place, and it was no wonder people were taking swan dives off buildings every day in the big cities. If it were not for his fear of heights, Devon himself might have taking the plunge, just to avoid the next mess of horrid film adaptations due to hit the silver screen.

     Yet there Devon stood, in defiance of all that was natural and good. He preached a good game, but was a hypocrite when it came to doing anything about it. Packed into the morning subway like a sardine, he kept hold of is few inches of the rail and hung on for life to make sure that he didn't bump into anyone and ruin their day before it even begun. Just when the slender train started to thin down and become somewhat breathable, it filled right back up with more people who wanted to get from one busy spot to another. This was his usual commute, but all other forms of transport in this city are a royal pain, so this was the certainly the lesser of a half a dozen evils. Devon continued to stand there and slowly began to dread the trip towards his place of work. It was usually around the halfway point where this sense came upon him as each stop closer passed by. As he was waiting, Devon muttered something with little or no regard to anyone who might be listening. He assumed no one would hear him since most people don't care enough to pay attention but one this particular day he would be mistaken.  

     "I'm sorry, who hates us?"

     Devon looked up to notice that one of the young ladies that was standing on the other side of the train, holding onto the opposite rail and waiting for her own stop had asked the question. She was a nice looking young woman, someone that he wouldn't hesitate to give the time of day to so he paused for a moment, took a deep breath and then gave her the answer.

     "God does."

     "God hates?" she repeated, trying to grasp the concept.

     "Of course He can. If an almighty being is capable of creation, love and even forgiveness, then hatred would just as possible." Devon didn't always want to spring into this particular conversation, but she clearly asking for it.

     "So what does God hate again?" she asked, obviously trying to undercut him with misleading questions.

     Devon smiled and then repeated his answer. "Isn't it evident? He hates us all."

     "What makes you think God's a He?" she quickly asked, trying to deflect the debate.

     Devon stifled a cough, "A woman wouldn't leave the planet this messed up. This is clearly the work of a disorganized and cluttered guy who can't be bothered to hire a maid to clean up after him."  

     "You make a good point, but why the accusation of hatred. Didn't win the lottery again last night?" she clearly was still trying to yank his chain but it didn't seem to have the effect she was hoping for.  

     For the first time that day, Devon cracked a smile as he began to enjoy this intellectual jousting. "No, but everyday when we turn on the news there's a lot of evidence that good people aren't getting a fair shake. To make things worse, a lot of corrupt and evil people are getting away with enormous crimes against humanity and are getting richer by the minute because of it."

     "Can I have an example please?" she asked, eager to keep going.

     "Try the fool who just left 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the hell he put is all through for the last eight years, all in the name of God. Two of the biggest crooks live there. If God gave a rat's ass about cleaning up, he would have started there a long time ago."

     "What do you expect? Are you not going to be satisfied until lightning comes down from the heavens and strikes down the sinners?"

     "Hey, it worked for Zeus." Devon could see the look on her face that his response generated and decided to elaborate, "Hey, I know he was a crappy husband but man was he a pretty decent deity. You pissed that guy off; he did not hesitate to let you know about it. What would you prefer to have, a God that gets in your face and tells you to behave or an absentee landlord who lets the place fall apart?"  

     "That's an awfully harsh thing to say about the almighty." she quibbled, again poking fun at his logic.

     "Well, when the cat is away the mouse will come out to play. In this case, the house is being run by the mice because the bloody cat hasn't been seen or heard from for at least two thousand years."  

     "Touché." she quickly conceded, not willing to stick to that point. Devon said nothing after that, trying to be gracious in victory. There was a whole moment of silence between them after that before she made the next comment, saying the last word Devon ever expected to hear: "Coffee?"

     "I'm sorry?" Devon responded, trying to process the suggestion as if it was something foreign to him.

     "Well, you do consume hot liquids to get you through the day like the rest of the peons here, don't you?" she was again using that playful tone, which suggested to Devon that she wanted to try again, this time over coffee apparently. 

     "Of course." Devon answered, trying to compose himself. "Are you aware of any places around here that serves a decent cup and doesn't use its name to jack up their already criminal prices?"  

     "As a matter of fact, I do." she said as she extended a hand for him to shake, "My name is Helen."

     "The name that started a war." Devon said as he shook her hand. "I'm Devon."  

     "That's good because if you said Paris I would have had to retract my offer for the sake of humanity." Helen giggled and then pointed to the doors. "This is my stop."

     "I guess this is my stop too, especially since we're going for coffee." Devon followed her out the doors once the sub came to a stop and up the stairs to the main lobby. Part of him wanted to stay on the train and continue on to work, but another part of him liked Helen and wanted to see where this was going to go. Most of the time when he got on his atheist wannabe rants people would run for the hills. Helen didn't this time and that alone seemed worthy of a little looking into. It wasn't everyday someone this nice invited Devon out for anything, so he didn't think twice about skipping out on work that day. It was a risk he was willing to take to spend a few more minutes with this interesting person. Devon may still have been sure that God hated everyone, but at that one particular moment, he sensed a little bit of that love and forgiveness as he stepped of the subway and followed her up for coffee.