Cross-posted at (and originally written for) RevGalBlogPals.org.
My darling nephew,
Your uncle is terribly busy these days, but your auntie
thought she would take a moment to write to her favorite nephew. I hope that
you’re doing well and that you’re keeping warm. A chill will give you a devil
of a cold. (Haha, I hope you’ll forgive the little pun.)
There’s so much happening amongst the humans these days that
it’s almost a demon’s playground. I am certain that your dear Uncle Screwtape
has given you much guidance about how to proceed with your important work of
opposition. Your uncle advises that the One who is against us wants the humans
(our patients) to be aware of what they can do and the heights of their
capabilities. Our work, darling Wormwood, remains to keep at the forefront of their mind ideas of what can happen to
them and fear of those things.
This season is absolutely delicious fodder for that. With
every reminder of that wretched story
of the Boy and his Mother, we can subtly push forward the images in which those
Two looks like our patient- Westernized, white, and wonderful. The fewer images
our patients see of a brown-skinned baby with his young brown mother and
adoptive father (sigh, that one got away!), the easier it is to make the
patients afraid of people who have those qualities.
The patients sing, “We wish you a Merry Christmas”, but they
don’t truly because they are busy and tired and feeling exploited and fearful.
This is the time to practice your whispering, dearest nephew. The most insidious
and, thus, delightful whispers are as follows:
1.
There’s not enough to go around. Will you let
your family be without to help someone who hasn’t worked like you have?
2.
You’re never going to be good enough if a bunch
of new people come in and live in your neighborhood.
3.
You and you alone are responsible for your
safety. You are alone in that goal. So alone.
4.
Who can you trust? Really, if someone disagrees
with you on something small, who’s to say they don’t disagree about something
fundamental? If you disagree on fundamentals, what’s to say that they follow
any kinds of rules at all? Someone who disagrees with you is hardly better than
an animal.
5.
There has never been a more dangerous time.
Wormwood, I am absolutely green with envy that you will have
the thrill of uttering those whispers for the first time. Once they are
swirling in a patient’s head, they are so difficult to expunge. That’s not our
problem; that’s our success!
Our patients fail to see that the wars and skirmishes
they perceive as cosmic and perpetual are really little battles that are in
response to kings, presidents, and military leaders jumping at our very own whispers.
As long as they continue to believe these things and see each other as threats
to their own, personal happiness (which we certainly endorse as the life
goal), they will remain focused on what can happen to them and they will do all
they can to prevent it.
And then, darling nephew, we will have won.
Auntie must wipe away a tear now. It’s so beautiful. The
chaos, the fear, the loathing, and the delicious, delicious division-
especially in families… it just makes me howl with enthusiasm. We can hardly be
more grateful for social media. They use it themselves to stir things up and
even the most well-meaning get drawn in. For a while, I did fear that the
patients had grasped how to use the widespread contact for support,
encouragement, and whatever else they think is “good”. But a few of Auntie’s
patented whispers and they’re at each other’s throats.
Wormwood, dearest, I shall sign off now. I’m sure you’ll
hear from your Uncle soon. Keep up your work and, remember, a little whisper
about fear goes a long way.
With affection,
Aunt Mephistophelia Screwtape
All credit and apologies to C. S. Lewis and his original
characters of Screwtape
and Wormwood. Mephistophelia is my own creation.
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