John McBabel and Barak O'Babel try to be close to G

Well it is finally under way. It took a lot of planning and a lot of convincing but our leader, John McBabel is right. If we build this tower we will reach heaven (1) and in that way be close to G. That foolish Barak O’Babel thinks that we can be closer to G by building those low buildings only one or two stories high.

We contributed our labor to build it and it is now fairly under way. The CEOs paid for our uniforms, because we have to be unified. Uniforms unify we are told, and that is what we need to be to work together. Silly Barak O’Babel lets the people working with him wear anything they want. How can they work together if everyone is different.

Of course the CEOs of The Tower were given parachutes so that when they examine the work that we do, they will be safe. Some complain that we, who do the actual work should get parachutes. But John McBabel is right, we didn’t pay for our unifying uniforms, the CEOs did. It is right that they should have the parachutes.

Look how small that foolish man Barak O’Babel is from up here. His idea was so pedestrian. He wanted to build many low buildings. How can you get closer to G using low buildings like that. He campaigned that they could be used for housing us. Since we have lost everything to build this magnificent tower. What does he know? We live in The Tower. Each one of us has an allotted space and an allotment of food. I know that it is not a lot of food or a lot of space but John McBabel says that we all will have it better as soon as we reach heaven. The Tower is not as nice as the homes we had on the ground, but when we were grounded we couldn’t see all that John McBabel has shown us. Now everything is rosy, we even have the glasses to wear as we are building this Castle in The Sky.

There is Barak O’Babel working with his supporters, turning those low buildings into hospitals and kitchens and shelters and schools. How foolish he is. You know some say he isn’t from around here at all. We are building a tower to heaven. Soon, when we reach G, when we are as high as G, when we are like G, we won’t need any of that foolishness. We will have it all. How can he possibly believe that by building those low buildings he will be close to G. It is laughable. I think he is a communist.

Now we are so high that Barak O’Babel and his followers seem insignificant. Even though our tower is blowing in the wind, we continue upward, higher and higher. Soon, it must be soon, we will be in heaven and we will be with G, be like G. Come here and see what we have accomplished while that fool is building all those low buildings. How impressive we are, how common is Barak O’Babel’s vision.

Why is everyone arguing we are almost there, I can feel it. Wait, I can’t understand what they are saying. Everyone seems to be speaking gibberish what is happening. It must be the altitude. We must struggle on. The blowing in the wind is getting worse. People are panicking and climbing down, no, don’t leave, don’t give up. John McBabel’s vision is not complete. I yell, I call to them but no one understands me. There, even John McBabel is abandoning our tower. I am so high yet I feel so low as I descend behind them. Some speak to me but what is the use. We don’t understand each other.

I look up at that tower blowing in the wind, so unstable, as we must have been to build it. That Tower, had no answer, blowing in the wind. What a folly, what a waste, what a shame. Now on the ground again the low buildings of Barak OBabel look more inviting. I see his many schools. I see language schools for each of us. I see schools for learning to travel the world. I see schools for learning to live together for a higher purpose not a higher tower. No uniforms he says, differences make us stronger.

Differences are so wonderful, this I have discovered. When we were building that tower of John McBabel we all tried to be the same. Differences were bad. Even our image of the melting pot, that we thought so strong, was really a trap. When we pour hot molten metals into a melting pot they are dissolved into one. That which cannot be dissolved into one is called slag and skimmed off to be discarded. How many people have been skimmed from our society and discarded. Yet Barak OBabel speaks of a stew where every individual has hir (2) flavor to contribute. Each ingredient adds to the flavor of the whole without losing hir special, unique, personal taste.

Isn’t funny, the higher we built the further from G, I felt. Now working with each other to better the lives of all of us, I feel better. Helping in the hospitals, teaching in the schools, building homes and lives and hope, I feel so close to G.

(1) In Genesis 11:1-9 is a simple tale of the Tower of Babel. But simple is not always simple.

(2) I use hir instead of his and hers and him and her. I do this to avoid offending sensibilities and to avoid offending my sense of style that finds “his/her or him/her” very awkward.