‘Way things are going, they’re gonna crucify me’

THE EDITOR, Madam:

With Easter just around the corner, my thoughts turn to hard-scrabble times growing up in Cornwall, England, in the aftermath of World War II with very few luxuries although my father was a hard-working man. My mother was a devout Christian, so my sisters and I regularly attended Sunday services at the Methodist chapel, in addition to Bible classes and other religious events during the week.

Early in my adolescence, there was a family tragedy, and the congregation shunned my mother in her time of greatest need, convincing me that worshipping was not all that it was made out to be. I turned my back on that way of life by joining the merchant navy at age 16 and saw how various religions negatively affected entire populations in many parts of the world, definitely strengthening my agnosticism. Young, fertile minds are vital to the hierarchy of every religion that indoctrinates followers, and biblical stories -whether gospel truths or mere Hebraic myths and fables - remain indelibly imprinted in my memory all these decades later. The cross became symbolic of Christianity with the image of crucifixion refreshed at Easter, that awful form of torture and capital punishment making us wonder why mankind is so barbaric.

In my childhood, kids often heard the expression “ You deserve to be crucified” from their parents, teachers, employers, etc, when punishment was threatened. Back then it was a term in common hyperbolic use. Don’t know how often it is used these days as so many changes have been made in the lexicon due to political correctness, but maybe it could be revived for use following unnerving and perturbing announcements from the White House Rose Garden on “Liberation Day”, April 2. President Donald Trump imposed his supposedly reciprocal tariffs on more than 180 countries, and, no doubt, he may well be deserving of such cruel punishment in the eyes of much of the world’s population.

In keeping with his penchant for showmanship, while he is being literally hung out to dry on Good Friday, there would be a chorus from a 1969 Beatles song playing over and over. John Lennon wrote The Ballad Of John and Yoko after he married Yoko Ono when much of the global media turned against him. The chorus is: “The way things are going, they’re gonna crucify me.”

Wishing all in the newsroom and all readers a peaceful and Happy Easter.

BERNIE SMITH

Parksville, BC

Canada