Soap Box

*NOTE* I’m writing this because I feel it is something Dad would have said if he were still here, so I felt I needed to briefly step back into the current events soapbox waters in his absence. – TeamCDB

It’s been easy to make fun of the French over the years, there’s a snobby elitist stereotype that seemingly begs to be taken down a notch or two. 

Shortly after 9/11 when France declined to join the U.S.-led coalition in the War on Terror, Google, - one of the least right-wing sources - took a jab at the French by pointing searches for “French Military Victories” to “Did you mean French military defeats” when you clicked the “I Feel Lucky” button instead of the standard “Google Search” button.

Dad had an anecdote about a stop in Paris in the late 70s. The majority of it is chronicled in the chapter “Talk to Me Fiddle, Tell Me About the Time When You Came Across the Sea” in his book, “Never Look at the Empty Seats,” but he left this part out.

Just to briefly sum up the pertinent part of the chapter, the CDB was on a European tour in 1979 which was besieged with complications due to multiple worker’s strikes, from customs agents, to TV camera operators, to air traffic controllers. The air traffic controllers strike led to a change of transportation from Paris to Germany, as a bus had to be rented to make the next leg of the tour.

While he was waiting for the bus situation to get sorted out, he decided to wait at a nearby tavern to get a shot of brandy.

A pretty common way to enjoy brandy is to use a lighter to ignite the brandy briefly to warm it up. I’ve never tried it, but apparently, it makes it more enjoyable, presumably the aroma is more prominent making the brandy more flavorful.

Dad ordered a glass from what he had always described as a stereotypical French bartender, complete with beret, and the bartender noticed that Dad was having difficulty getting the brandy to catch fire. The bartender – who didn’t appear to speak English – motioned for Dad to give the glass back to him.

He then poured the brandy into another glass and then put hot water from an expresso machine into the glass, then poured it out and put the brandy back in the glass. The hot water made the brandy easier to light, which he did, turning the glass allowing the alcohol to warm the whole glass.

While the bartender was performing the brandy warming ritual, Dad said he was giving him condescending glances, as if saying, “Silly American, unable to warm his brandy.”

So Frenchy’s big finale to warming the brandy was sitting the glass down on the bar and using his hand to plop down momentarily on the glass to extinguish the flame, but in his moment of triumph over the uncivilized American, he left his hand on the glass a split second too long and the extinguished flame created a vacuum and stuck the glass to his hand, changing his smug demeanor into one of shock and panic as he yelled whatever the French equivalent to “OWWW!” would be.

He was fine, even if his Parisian pride was slightly wounded.

I’m sharing this story because I’ve heard it said that - for the most part - even the French don’t like the Parisians, with many of those outside of France’s largest city feeling that they are looked down on by the elites, and it’s a feeling that extends beyond the Paris city limits and the borders of France, with a large part of Western civilization feeling that Paris is a city of snobs that look down on the rest of the world.

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to paint all Parisians in a bad light, the mindset is not universal across the board, but my point is that there is a prevailing progressive elitist mindset in Paris, one that reared its head in a shocking way last week.

During the Olympic opening ceremonies on Friday, July 26, the organizers of the Paris Olympic Games managed to unite most Christians around the world in their disgust of the images of drag queens mocking Leonardo da Vinci’s mural “The Last Supper,” which depicts Jesus on the night before His arrest, betrayal and crucifixion.

At the end of this “what were they thinking” performance, after dancing grinding and even crawling around, men in dresses and makeup settled along a long table into poses obviously meant to reflect those of Jesus and His apostles in da Vinci’s masterpiece.

It’s hard to believe that the Olympic organizers in the city which is home to Notre Dame Cathedral, one of the oldest and most historic churches in the world, now openly mocks Christians and our Savior with little concern for their blasphemy.

There’s not a lot more that can be said except that God will not be mocked and retribution will come in the form of the Last Judgment. 

Understandably, many of us Christ followers are extremely upset and want to take action. As Christians, this cuts deep, so what can we do?

Pray.

We must pray to change the hearts of those who openly mock our Lord to soften and open them up to seeing His Truth.

Paris is a beautiful city, and there are plenty of good people, despite the pomposity of many of its citizens.

May those responsible for this mockery have a change of heart and spirit.

Amen.

What do you think?

Let’s all make the day count!

Pray for our troops, our police, the Peace of Jerusalem and our nation.

God Bless America!

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