I ain't afraid of Hell because I been to Kansas.

To continue on with my writing about my trip through Americas Heartland, wherein there is a whole lot of land but not a lot of heart, I would like to point out one of my odd yet deeper thoughts that would not have come to me if my mind was not so devoid of entertainment. You see, as you travel across the great, flat, treeless expanses of our nations prairie land, one can not help but note how horribly depressing everything beyond your windshield seems to be. I believe it was just minutes before reaching Liberal, Kansas, which should be renamed Conservative, or Sparse, they just seem more fitting, when I had a deep thought. the thought was this, " No wonder all those loony rapture religions come from areas like this". That was it, simple but enlightening. really if you think about it, the most devoutly religious people in America seem to live in the parts of the country with the least to do. Perhaps the thought that one day God will summon you to his side and float you straight up and outta this hellhole is the only thing that keeps those folks going. It has to be easy to believe in the bibles "literal" time line when you have nothing to look at. Of course he created the universe in six days. After all how hard is it to create absolutely nothing? Not too damn hard I would think, that is if I had grown up in nowhere. Don't get me wrong, I didn't grow up in New York or San Fransisco but I did grow up around trees and lakes and let's not forget books, gotta have them. These are the things, that if you are a believer in a higher power, make you think that creating a universe might take a smeeutch longer than a week. I saw several signs as I drove as well, not signs of the end of times but signs of the end of intelligent times. These signs stood, planted on the edges of farm land or hung from overpasses. " Get on your knees and for your sins to be forgiven?" That was a good one because it made me wonder if getting down and praying at that point would cause some sort of horrible crash on the freeway resulting in several deaths and I doubt that I would be forgiven for them even though prayer caused the accident. I saw another sign near a casino that said, "Gambling is a sin, double down on Jesus". I don't know the idiot that wrote that sign but I can say, without any forbearance, he or she was an idiot. You could never bet against Jesus, he really holds all the cards against you and he has God for a pit boss and I suppose the Holy Ghost would be, i don't know, running the buffet I suppose. There was another that said "He is coming, will you be ready?" Next it was a mid-eighties Camero with a "For Sale" sign taped to it. this must have some deeper meaning, like perhaps Jesus is expected to make his Earthly return rockin' the mullet. Once again I am no expert, just guessing. Oh so many stupid signs of stupid did I see I wish i could chronicle them all for you but, alas, i do not have time. I leave you with this parting thought. It seems to me that people believe harder in something when they are surrounded by nothing.