I was just in the West Texas town of El Paso. Plus, I hopped over the state line and up to New Mexico for a day or two, for business. Hopefully, I’ll be back that way again in January, “the good lord willing and the creek don’t rise.”
I encountered much sadness, some loss, a few victories, and number of familiar faces. Plus, as I listened throughout my time there, I kept hearing a recurrent theme, and it has to do with the a “Catholic” sentiment.
“Bargaining: it’s a Catholic thing,” was the way she explained it. Then came the tale of a near-miraculous save and the appointed task that was part of the bargain. It’s a little along the lines of, “If you do this for me, dear lord, then I’ll make a sacrifice by doing (some task, a pilgrimage, some good deed).”
Sounds familiar, like, “Rescue me this one time, dear lord (insert appropriate deity), and I’ll never do this again. Promise.” I figure that’s best punctuated by either crossed fingers or some other form of clause.
So I’m not so sure that bargaining is limited to the Catholic faith, either, as I can dig out numerous examples from pre-Christian literature where bargains with the gods have been struck. Of course, having just covered that Shakespeare play and its root source, this is still in my mind. There’s two, particularly stately and elegant, long bits of highly ornate poetry that deals with the two main characters pleading to their particular gods to intercede on the querent behalf. Battle to the death, most near, anyways, and then a subtle turn of the trick with the surprise ending, which, I must admit, did surprise me even though I’d just glossed the source poem, not a month or two earlier.
Pursuant of this line of thought, I was considering the bargain, too, only I’m not so sure that I want to disturb the main guy with my plea. I just need a little help to make it through the holiday season without going bankrupt. From my research, I guess I should invoke Mr. Mercury, the winged one, as he also had a lot to do with commerce.
My prayers to Neptune might’ve been answered, too, as all I asked for was a fish bigger than the last two I caught. Wasn’t bigger by much, though. I suppose I should be more specific.
Cherchez le poisson:
This came off the camera, along with a couple of other pictures gathered recently. Wednesday morning’s fish, nice little girl. I’ve got a conventional shot of her, but then, as she was trying one more flip to escape, the camera caught her in action. Figured I’d run it, instead.
