Saint Yoda

  Alright, I know.  I was a little early putting out the newest chapter of the Nocent.  I think it was about 11:09pm when I put it out, so it wasn't exactly Friday yet.  I couldn't resist.  I'm just so excited to put this stuff out there for the world to see!  And thank you to my newest reader from Russia!  I almost feel like I've got the whole world in my hands.  Everyone, sing along.  Nah, I'm just grateful to all of my readers out there from places I can't even find on a map.  That's four continents!  It's only Africa, Australia and them damn fuckers in Antarctica that ain't reading my shit.
  Tonight, my wife told me the best thing I ever did as a kid was admire Yoda.  From him I learned that it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside.  It is your faith that makes you as wise, strong, humble and cunning as you believe you can be.  I had learned early on that I can't always trust those who may look like me on the outside.  I should also not distrust someone merely because of the color of their skin.  Those are important life lessons that have served me well even through my adult years.
  It still makes me cry when I watch that seen in Empire where Yoda lifts the X-Wing out of the swamp and sets it on dry land armed with only his faith.  When he chastises Luke for his failure, I take it as a reprimand for my own failures.  If you happened to be sitting behind me in the theatre when I watched Episode 2 for the first time, I apologize for blocking your view of the screen.  I gave Yoda a standing ovation when he walked into the cave at the end to confront Count Dooku.  I cried my eyes out when I finally got to see Yoda in action and wielding a light saber.  I felt like I was five years old again.  As a matter of fact, I probably felt the same way some people feel when they go to church.  May the Force be with you.  And also with you.
  Speaking of church, I wanted to leave you with this little anecdote.  When I was younger, my parents took me on a trip to Europe.  We went all kinds of places, but it was interesting when we visited the Vatican in Rome, Italy.  It just happened to be some sort of special Catholic day.  There were thousands of people gathered in a courtyard that had an obelisk, I think.  Anyway, there was a figure dressed in white up in a window of the building there.  Someone told me it was the Pope (John Paul 2 before he died) and that he was giving some sort of speech.  The tour guide translated, but I don't remember.  Then the guide stopped translating and bowed his head silently even though the little white dot was still talking.  When the speaking stopped, the tour guide told us the Pope had said a prayer of blessing for the crowd.  I had just been blessed by the Pope.  I looked up to the window and said, "Thanks, Pope".
  I know I said I wanted to leave you with that anecdote, but it reminded me of something else.  My sister and I were eating at Popeye's Chicken (those damn Chinamen with their fried chicken again) one day and I asked her, "You know Popeye's is a Catholic organization, right?  It's really Pope Yes Chicken.  You see, years ago, some disgruntled workers left because they were Protestant.  They started their own chicken franchise, called Church's Chicken".  She looked at me all wide eyed and was all like, "Wow, really?" and shit.  I can't believe she fell for that!  Boy, I was a mean older brother.