noblethemes

Meanwhile,  at the other end of the park…

“You know what’s really funny?” Moxie cocked her head and smiled at Able. “Everything scientists know for sure now – and they can be such arrogant pricks – but everything they know for sure, you know, like it’s beyond doubt, laugh you to scorn if you dare challenge them…  All of it could be totally different ten years from now!  And they’ll think how ridiculous it was that anybody could have believed that mess, but you know what?”

“No, but I have a feeling you’re gonna tell me.” Able smiled back.

“Ten years from now they’ll still be a bunch of egotistical asses about whatever it is they think they know ‘for sure!’ To be some of the smartest people in the world, they can also be some of the dumbest! Dumb because they’re so damn arrogant.” She cackled at this.  “You just can’t let it bother you so much, sweetie. It’s o.k., you know?  Science can tell us a lot about the world we live in, but there’s so much more – a whoooole  lot more – it really can’t tell us anything about!”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Able plopped down on a nearby bench and looked up at Moxie. “Maybe it’s just because I grew up in a fundamentalist church.  You know, where everything was so black and white, definitely right or definitely wrong, no gray area or questions allowed.  I don’t know; sometimes it just scares me. It makes me feel like … you know, if the world didn’t begin exactly, precisely the way I’ve been taught, then everything else I’ve been taught to believe is … well, just a bunch of muck.”

Moxie stepped right in front of Able,  put her hand on his cheek, and looked kindly but unusually serious … at least for Moxie Keener.  “You’ve heard the old saying about ‘missing the forest for all the trees,’ right?”

“Yeah,” Able answered.

“Well, sometimes it gets worse. Some people even miss most of the trees because they just stand there in the forest staring at only two or three… That’s the fundamentalist, and that’s sad. But you know what, babe?”

“What?”

“If you want to see the whole forest – I mean really want to see it – you can’t be afraid to spread your wings and fly.”  She sat down beside him and put an arm around his shoulders.  “So maybe God took billions of years to create everything, and maybe he didn’t… But we’ve got a whole big, beautiful world around us, Able.” She looked over and pulled him closer.  “And I want to explore it and enjoy with you … which is exactly  what I think God would want us to do, you know?  Rather than getting all twisted up like a pretzel over how it all got here. It’s here! Let’s find out what’s in it, huh? What d’ya say?”

Just then a couple of kids ran by laughing, chasing each other. They couldn’t have been more than six or seven-years-old. Able had never been that carefree, that relaxed and lighthearted.  Not until now, anyway, at least when he was with Moxie.  It was sort of intimidating, really, and for some reason he didn’t understand, it even made him feel a little guilty to feel so good, like he was sinning or something.

“So it’s not important? I mean, don’t we have to understand where we came from and how we came about to understand who and what we are?”

“Or maybe,” Moxie replied, “we need to understand who and what we are first  in order to truly understand the where, when, how and why of it all…  And you know, my overly pensive and troubled love, that really is possible.”  She smiled and playfully ruffled his hair.  “I mean, my God, Able! Do you sit around contemplating the origin of your sketchbook and pencils and the image you want to draw – how and when and why it entered your mind – or do you just sit down and create a work of art?”

“Well, no … but when I’m finished people know somebody created that work of art.”

“Yeah, maybe so, but you know what?” She paused and put her head against his. “People looking at that work of art can appreciate it, love it, enjoy it and even benefit from it without ever once thinking about the artist. And, yeah, I know the artist wants to be appreciated.”  She smiled at him. “But even when people think about that artist I doubt very seriously they spend hours and hours intently speculating on the particulars of the step by step process he went through creating that stunning work of art.  And if they do? Shame on them, because they’re probably missing the spectacular beauty of it all, which is why the artist created the work of art in the first place. Don’t ya think?”

“Ha!” Able laughed just as the kids ran by again. “I can’t win! O.k. O.k. I give! You’ve got me!”

“Good!  And I’m gonna keep you, too!”  Moxie suddenly rolled him over on the bench and pinned him down, laughing. Able laughed, too, then they both quieted,  peering deeply in each other’s eyes. Moxie leaned her head down, closed her eyes and caressed his lips with her lips, breathing him in deeply, and Able completely relaxed. “I love you Able … forever and always.  I love you.”