And I Looked, and Behold a Pale Horse
“And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder. One of the four beasts saying, “Come and see.” And I saw, and behold a white horse.” – John Cash
On the dark edges of human existence, lies a great plague. A virus that grows stronger each year, more resistant as the generations pass.
It has no mercy, for child or for parent. It seeks only to survive, and to spread.
There was a day, not so long ago, where the world would rarely see its face. It was, in many ways, unthinkable. It was so very rare, that its discovery amongst us was regarded as an outlier. A random mutation. Something not to be feared…for the chances that it would strike your community, your family, your home, were more legend than life.
And yet, each year the frequency rises, seemingly without fail. Despite our powerful technology, or our ever-broadening perspective…it grows. Despite our wired collective consciousness, or our ability to see beyond the now…it grows.
It grows without conscience, and without regard for the basic principles that our ancestors held dear. It is a self-fulfilling disease that affects not only the physical, but the spiritual as well. It is shaping the minds of each next generation, weakening their resolve for a life well-lived, and a life well-earned.
This morning, the beast arrived at our home. It was just as I remembered from my childhood, except that it was now visiting my children…again. Again, and again, and again. It was back, again.
No longer an unthinkable, random mutation. No longer the rare outlier. The beast had arrived at our home, as it had just a short time ago…again.
SNOW DAY.
Snow Day. It was back. Again.
But why? Why is this happening…again. And why can we not stem the tide of this progressive malady with our modern-day ability to manipulate the very nature of reality?
I stepped outside to breathe in this infected air, as if to say…”take me instead, beast!”. And in that instant, I knew. I could see it, I could smell it, I could taste it. In that instant, I knew what unspeakable horror was serving as the source of this snowy day of educational death.
It was…
ONE. INCH. OF SNOW.
“And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts. And I looked, and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him.” – John Cash
