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The Arrival
The arrival
I see him laying there, roaring sound coming out of him, black smoke covering all of him, just like it was predicted by the priests in our tribe. He is bigger than I ever imagined he would be. His wings reflected the sun and blinded us all. His figure reflects light and blinds us all. However, I’m wondering why he decided to come down. Has he been listening to our prayers? Has our time on this world reached an end? What do the tattoos that spell “American Airlines” on his sides mean? It’s all so confusing, but there is no doubt: a God has landed on our sacred grounds.
The day the tribe had been waiting for is finally here. I thought he was smaller, but now that I can see him next to me, our God is bigger than anyone or anything here at the village. He seemed hurt, his wings seemed like they’ve been cut in half. Maybe he needs us to help him, I believe that after all he has done for us, this is our chance to do something for him. As our tribe leader, Rajiv approaches him and looks inside through the holes on his side. He says he saw dead people laying on his stomach. Maybe they were from other tribes, but they seemed too different and strange from all of us.
Rajiv continued trying to make contact with the God, but as he shouted and tried to talk to him, he responded with more black smoke and roaring metallic sounds coming from his wings. We think we might have angered our god. We begin to pray, but our chants seem futile and He does not respond. Rajiv is desperate, he send all of us women to dance and try to peace his anger, but nightfall is coming and our God has yet to respond. We hear another screeching sound. Rajiv interprets this as hunger from our God.
We don’t know what God’s are supposed to eat up amongst the clouds, so we first bring forth our best crops. We offer life from the ground, fruits, medicinal herbs and all kinds of crops. He remains unimpressed. Maybe what he needs is meat to take his strength back. So we fetch our best meat, we bring chicken, boars and even a goat. We offer them in his honor and proceed to cook our more delicious dishes. A feast worthy of a God. Nonetheless, we seem to bore him, and the fire that had once lived inside of our God is slowly dying. Finally, we realize it’s time for the ultimate gift.
Rajiv brings forth our strongest warrior. He, who volunteered himself in order to become a sacrifice for our divine being. The highest honor and biggest display of faith that a mortal can gain can only be received through voluntary sacrifice. We begin to paint all over his body, writing ancient passages and trying to copy the “American Airlines” tattoo from our god. At the same time, men prepare a wood statue to tie up the sacrifice. The time comes and Rajiv ties up the warrior. He chants a few passages, and finally set it all on fire. His death is slow and painful to watch, it takes until dawn for the fire to die.
In spite of our efforts the mighty God refused to respond. Some of his body was slowly being washed into the sea, back to a place we will never know. What else could we have done to please our God? Or maybe this was all just a test. We’ll keep trying to please him, but as humans nothing we can do that can compare to his grace. But day after day, we will wait for him to come back and respond. We can always try tomorrow. What a torment it is to live a mortal life, full of the unknown and at the mercy of others.
