Typically, I'm not attracted to men with four hoop piercings in their lower lip, but Bobby was different. The tattoos he sported on each wrist were Tibetan characters. LOVE on the left wrist and COMPASSION on the right. He said he did that on purpose; the compassion on the right, because if he were ever in a situation where he had to hit someone, he would naturally use his right hand. He was right-handed. "And if I had to hit someone" he said, "I would remember to use compassion instead."
That was when I decided to order a second beer and see what else this guy had to say. I had been watching the final four half-heartily when Bobby came in and sat down next to me. He looked like a typical Seattle-goth-punk-rocker: Black straight hair, faded plain black sweatshirt, plain black tee shirt, black jeans, black converse tennis shoes. I could tell was different somehow. Maybe it was his freshly shaved face and perfect skin. There was an inner glow to Bobby that I could see through his hard, dark exterior. He was noticing the reading material in front of me.
I had a compilation book of the best headlines and stories from the Weekly World News open to an article about bible prophecies having just finished reading about the secret marriage between Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein complete with pictures of them on their honeymoon, Hobie Cating in the sun in Kauai. They looked so happy together. I had no idea what excellent shape they both were in! I guess they had a lot of time to work-out and they clearly missed vacationing on the ocean waves. I am happy for them.
Bobby cocked his head towards my reading material and asked me a couple of questions. "Do I believed in the stories from the Bible? Were you raised as a Christian?"
Golly...this is gonna be an interesting night, I thought to myself.
"Yes and no." I said. "I was fortunate to have been raised by a woman who did not want me to be raised as a Roman Catholic, as she was, so she took my sisters and me through many, many religions....most of them Christian." I said and went on, "I consider this to be luck because at the age of 11 Mom got us into meditation, Transcendental Meditation...like the Beatles were doing so I learned at an early age about other worlds, how enlightenment and religion were not the same thing. We spent a lot of our time on weekend retreats and Mom always was frustrated because she wasn't levitating yet. That was her goal, to levitate....not enlightenment, but to fly around the house checking on me and my sisters....to see what we were up to, I guess. After the TM practice was integrated into my daily life, I started studying other religions on my own, without her...so I ventured off into Judaism and the Brethren (a radical branching off from the radical Amish community) Hinduism, naturally because of the TM, and about 14 or 15 other religions before the age of 17."
"So for stories of the Bible?" I stop, take a quick sip of my Manny's Indian Pale Ale (IPA's are my current favorite beers...smooth, sweet, hoppy...God Bless the Northwest Beers!) I smile to my attentive handsome bartender and nod in appreciation of the fresh brew, his recommendation, and finish answering Bobby's question.
"I've read the first chapter, Genesis. I love the creation stories, especially since all the religions agree pretty much, on how the universe is created. You know the Native Americans believe that there was another first wife before Eve named Lilith, and that Eve was the second wife. After the creation story, the bible gets so violent! Cain killed Abel. There are so many stories about violence and brothers fighting and all of this and that. Then comes the flood and most world religions believe there was a huge flood, and god decides to start over but only with Noah? And soon enough enough people are born and fighting again. Then that whole situation between Aaron and Moses?" I take another swig and continue. "So sad! I mean how can the bible inspire anyone?"
I look Bobby squarely in his twinkling slate gray eyes and he is smiling and nodding. He is encouraging as he says, "And? Go on."
God help the man who's pick-up line to me is "Have you read the bible!"
"Well, the whole Jesus story. Where's the truth there? What is the real story between Mary Magdalene and Jesus? Wouldn't it have been considered a sin for someone like Jesus to not have taken a wife by the age of 30 back in that day and time? And wasn't he considered a zealot and terrorists among his community? What about John the Baptist? Wasn't he a religious freak performing crazy ceremony out in the desert? What the fuck is that story really about?"
Bobby is hanging on my every word, so I wrap-up my long-winded answer with the book of Revelations. I say, "I really love that last part of the Bible where all the colorful ponies show up doing all this and that spreading terror in the world. Gosh, what a happy ending! So much to look forward to!"
"Yeah, it's quite an ending!" Bobby agrees and goes on saying, "Well if it weren't for my Christian upbringing, I wouldn't be the well-balanced, good person I am today."
"What are your spiritual beliefs today?" I ask.
"I follow the teachings of the Dali Lama. He was asked if he always had been the way he is and if he ever had any bad thoughts, he said he might have once killed a mosquito. Can you imagine? Just a mosquito?" he shakes his head in disbelief. "What's that gotta feel like, if that is your only regret?"
"Well, you have to remember that he was raised in a very protected environment from a very early age meditating and in studies to be the man he is today. That influencer from being a toddler has got to make an impression." I say. "We are born with a blank slate and learn how to hate and pass judgment."
Gothboy is a Buddhist. Cool.
He supports himself as a foreman for a construction company and admits to being a terrible carpenter and having no real talent at all to speak of except being able to figure out what people are good at and putting them at the right job. He is hoping to tour this summer with Warped Tour for two months which is a Punk Rock music festival that tours around the nation.
Go Gothboy. Follow your dream. Tour and live on the road. I remember how much I loved living on the road and hope to do that again soon.
Bobby asks me if I've studied the Book of Mormon. I tell him how I got through about the first hundred pages or so but had a hard time with the how they ranked women on the same level as cattle and how anyone who wasn't white wouldn't be allowed into the kingdom of heaven.
"Oh wait." I said. "I'm getting the Koran and the Book of Mormon confused." It could have been the second IPA.
""I like the way the Mormons believe that there are many gods and that there is this god watching this sector of the universe....this planet. It reminds me of the movie Contact. You seen it?" he asks me.
I nod and say, "Its one of my favorite movies. What part specifically does that remind you of?" I ask.
"When Jodi Foster's character and her dad are looking up at the sky and he says if there weren't intelligent life up there it was a waste of space." Gothboy is a philosopher too.
"Oh dear." I say. "Now you are opening up a whole can of worms. this is an area of quantum physics that I could discuss all night long!"
Bobby believes in a white male god. I believe in energetic forces ad that man was just another creation just like hybrid tomatoes...apes and the scientists from another dimension experimenting on making a new species and we needed to be careful...look at cloning and genetic engineering. Look at the leaps we've taken in science in the last one hundred years. Who knows what we are really capable of. Hadn't we already created life in the test tubes?
My handsome bartender checks on me and if I need another beer. Bobby goes to the bathroom and while he is gone, asks me if Bobby is bothering me. Another seat had opened up at the end of the bar if I wanted to finish watching UNC get their asses kicked, I could do it down there. How sweet. I say no and that I'm okay and thank him for the concern. I love it when men get protective. It's such a good feeling. Had the bartender really been listening to our conversation, perhaps he would have offered Bobby the open seat at the end of the bar. We make so many assumptions based only on appearances.
Bobby comes back and I it is time for me to go. Two NW beers are enough for most humans. You have to build up a tolerance to drink anymore than that. I thank Bobby for his company and genuinely appreciate him for our conversation. These are the encounters that I had missed so much from the Northwest.
Thank you god. It was good for my soul.
So much love,
All the way over here...
Linda
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