Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Bless the snow, obliterator of banality

Awakening this morning in my cold, running-water-less house in Dushanbe, I staggered to the TV and saw that the morning's greeting on CNN International was the flapping mouth of GWB in live coverage of his SOTU address. Having determined that my civic duty to listen to this lying you-know-what exceeded my private duty to go to work, I allowed myself to sit and listen, grating as it was, a small sacrifice to the perpetuation (restoration?) of democracy.

And then the snow started.

And the satellite dish began to fill up.

And the signals weakened.

And the voice broke up, and the picture stuttered.

And finally, a blank screen, no signal being able to penetrate the snow cover on the dish.

I am saved. I tried, I truly tried, to put my disgust aside and listen to what this imbecile had to say.

And the heavens and their snow, they saved me.