Easter ObservationsI hope everyone had a pleasant holiday. We celebrated the arrival of spring with 11 inches of snow, which means it is still slushy and sloppy outside. I worked on promotion this week (just 5 weeks to go to the release date) and got very little done on my WIP.
As I watched Moses part the Red Sea in the 1956 film version of The Ten Commandments on Saturday night (the one special effect that still thrills me in a movie whose 50-year-old effects are now considered primitive), I knew I'd fall asleep before the scene on Mt. Sinai with the burning bush and the inscribed tablets, so I mentally went over the 10 commandments, confident I could remember them all.
It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. This is what I came up with.
1) Thou shalt not have any God before Me.
2) Thou shalt not worship any false images of Me.
3) Honor thy father and mother.
4) Thou shalt not kill.
5) Thou sahlt not steal.
6) Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7) Remember the Sabbath; keep it holy.
8) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife (or anything else of the neighbor's).
9) Thou shalt not take My name in vain.
I still can't remember the 10th one. Was it something about bearing false witness against thy neighbor? Somehow I don't think that's right.
I'm most guilty of breaking #7 and #9. (It was remembering these commandments that kept me from popping the magazine I was reading at the ophthalmologist's office this morning, which violates #5).
Speaking of #7, I'm ancient enough to remember when everything was closed on major holidays. It hurts my heart to see Wal-Mart and Blockbuster Video open on Easter, and it seems totally unnecessary. Why can't people buy the ingredients for their holiday meal, fill up their gas tanks and arrange for their after-dinner entertainment the day before?
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6 comments:
I love that movie. I still wait for the scene when he gets to Mt. Sinai and God delivers the commandments. (Remember the SNL joke - there were originally 15 commandments but Moses dropped one of the tablets.)
So as to your missing commandment - thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (I think Hillary forgot this one.)
My husband called Wal-Mart and they said they were closed. We went by Wendy's and they also were closed (McD's and BK were open). So it's not a total loss.
It used to be a time that everything would be closed on Easter--not so anymore.
I remember when everything was closed on holidays. Things have certainly changed. But as the chick who was in the groceries for Easter dinner on Easter day.... And I'm not even going to play myself and try and see if I know all Ten Commandments... I'm such a heathen...
Gwyneth
Yep, it's the one about false witness. See, you remember more than you thought!
I used to love all the old Biblical movies--The Ten Commandments, The Robe, Samson and Delilah, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Ben Hur, etc. But I can't seem to watch them now. First, they are long and sloooow moving. As much as I love Charlton Heston as an actor, in today's cinematic world, his portrayals begin to look comedic.
Donna and Patricia, thanks for filling me in on my missing commandement. I don't know why that one didn't sound right to me.
Gwyneth, even if you do shop on Easter, I don't believe for one minute that you're a heathen (your comment makes me picture LaWanda Paige as Aunt Esther on Sanford and Son, bringing a smile to my face).
Shelia, you're right, those days are gone!
I loved AUnt Esther. Her sayings are so funny ... "you ole heathen..." "you fish-eyed fool..." Classic! Now I feel like going to watch some reruns of Sanford and Son
Gwyneth
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