The other day was the epic “Day Off”. There were actually a lot of people to the right and left of me logistically up in the waiting room of General Surgery of the University of Tennessee Medical Center Teaching Hospital, but all to the right with me in perspective. This time I was there not to give Last Rites, but with myself as the patient for various pre-op conversations.
There were forms to fill out with the usual questions about past operations, present complaints, family medical history, etc. One of them was on race, which is actually medical, as this can bring in factors of sickle cell anemia which will have sufferers much more frequently of one race than another.
But another question was on ethnicity, so I asked the other patients out loud what that was about. I’m so bad and evil. The whole room unanimously erupted in complaints about that question on the form, wondering what was meant. I mean, I get that too, like Kosher food in post-op recovery or some such. But no one was thinking about that, and pointed me to the next questions about transgender, etc. They were apoplectic, wondering what such wokista rubbish could be about. But, I get that too. If you want to take care of, say, an inguinal hernia going the wrong way south, a specifically male difficulty, and the patient insists he is not male, well, Houston, we have a problem. “Puff the magic drag-on,” and all that.
Letting people vent their frustrations about the wokista anti-culture was part of my entertainment for the “Day Off”. That was great — but even better, being a devotee of Saint George the Dragon Slayer — was slaying The Dragon, twice, on the way from my parish in WNC to Knoxville TN, and then again on the way back.
The picture above was taken just feet before The Dragon begins on the northwest side. 318 curves in 11 miles. Being in a peaceful mood, I didn’t make the tires sing with “drifting” melodies on all 318 curves as I’ve done before (I think I missed out on just one). This time only one “drifting” sing-song of squealing tires was to be heard. But it was all most enjoyable.
Then, arriving home, a pair of dragons, this time from CATI armor, one being a “swim” cut for the front and the traditional SAPI cut for the back:
Thin. Fairly lightweight for what they do. Concealable. These work with a carrier I already have for any law enforcement chaplaincy work.
For those offended by the snake headed logo for the CATI body armor, know this:
- The Lord Jesus described the irony of the perfect justice by which He redeems and and saves us, that is, by coming to us in the very image of the one who put us all to death in original sin, the first Adam, deceived by Satan, the ancient serpent, the great dragon, so that having taken on the punishment we deserve for sin, He would have the right in His own justice to have mercy on us, His wounds from Satan making His mercy credible, majestic.
- “No one has ever gone into heaven except the One who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (Jn 3:13-16).
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 