Domicile: This is the Way we go to church
Click to viewWhen Ralph Balmont arrived at Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle Church, the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. Lovejoy was daydreaming when Ralph Balmont approached his registration table.
"Is this where we sign in at?"
"Good morning."
Ralph lowered his glasses and made eye contact; this snapped Lovejoy out of his prepared routine.
"I need to sign in here, right?"
"Oh, for donations? I need to see your ID first."
"Mm-hm." Ralph had already fished out his wallet and was removing his driver's license. He handed it over to Lovejoy, who took down the name & address.
"How many in your household?"
"Four." Ralph had learned long ago to give false answers to unexpected questions without faultering or batting an eye. It got them out of the way, as they were always hurdles people threw up in their vain control games.
"Now sign here." Ralph noted a hint of superiority in the tone, and purposely bowed his posture to play up to it.
"Okay, there you go, sir," Lovejoy handed Ralph a small numbered peice of paper along with his license, "here's your number, just wait and you'll be called shortly." Ralph noted the "sir" thrown in as a false reward for servile behavior. Fake authority figures always go for any show of submission, even obvious ploys, the hope is real ones will follow.
Ralph stood amoungst the rest of Mumsville's rejects & outcasts, observing them and seeing how- unlike the rest of them- he felt no inclination to go along with society's value judgements of who they were & what they deserved. The natural state of all living things was a kind of disinterested awareness; outside of the realm of human influence, it can be observed quite plainly in any animal unabused, uncaged or undomesticated- they make no efforts to ignore or resist the distortions of human influence, but they also aren't affected by it.
"Status is like language," Ralph said under his breath, "if you don't understand it, it won't effect you." The people surrounding him clearly understood the part society wanted them to- it had been impressed upon them- and they were responding favorably, by acting like they knew they were inferior. Just then, Ralph's number got called, and he moved to the line already beginning to assemble- in fact, many let him go ahead of them; truly, inferiority HAD been learned, and Ralph was benefitting from this in a small way.