"Now, the great god Shakur," the master of ceremonies continued, "was in the world of the heavens. There he saw all the people struggling and suffering in their lives. He knew that they were struggling and suffering because the people in the world did not pay adequate worship and homage to Shakur and all of his family and friends. So he devised a plan, to make the people see his greatness.
"He came down to the earth, in the form of a small baby. The baby had Saint Abatha as a mother, and Saint Augustin as a father. And the parents loved the baby a dear amount. For these were the parents who were chosen by the great god Shakur himself to be his parents and protect him in this world. This couple had never had any children before, and they treasured him greatly.
"Unfortunately, tragedy struck. When the child god was four years old, the parents of the god died. They were poor, and they had gotten a deep sort of sickness, and they could not afford to see the doctor for their illness. This troubled the great god Shakur greatly, and gave him unimaginable, unendurable grief. This tragic event left the great god Shakur as a young orphan.
"The orphan, still grieving his parents' passing, was taken to an orphanage. There he was mistreated by the keepers who ran the orphanage. He did not get good meals, and the meals were not nutritious. He was screamed at by the adults that ran the orphanage, and he got beaten by them. He often received punishments for very minor infractions, such as talking when he was supposed to be silent. And he was made to do much long, hard labour for the orphanage.
"Eventually, when he was thirteen, he found a way to escape the orphanage, thank the heavens. He was able to break the lock that held the bolts over the windows. And he was able to slip through. Unfortunately, he twisted his ankle as he jumped from the window. In pain, and not able to walk properly, he limped away from the orphanage as fast as he could.
"He was lost in the city, with no-one to turn to and nowhere to go. Since his ankle was twisted, he asked everyone he encountered if they could take him to a doctor. But, he had no money, and so thus they showed no kindness to him and they did not take him to any doctor. Since the great god Shakur could not see a doctor about his twisted ankle, it healed wrong and left him with a limp.
"Since he has a limp, he could not find a job. For all the jobs that were for men required him to walk at least some of the time. And, he had no education, so he could not take a job that required him to read and write papers. The great god Shakur desperately tried to get a job but none were available to him.
"And so he begged. He held his begging bowl and he begged to all the wealthy passers by, asking them if they could spare him any coins. Some people spared him a few coins, but most of them did not, leaving the great god Shakur very hungry and sickly. He was cold in the winters and hot in the summers. And he was very miserable indeed.
"But he was a god. And, as a god, he had his godly voice with which he could impart godly truths to all the people. One day he used his great, booming godly voice to address the people. He stood up, unsteady on his legs on account of the twisted ankle. And he addressed the people, who all gathered around to hear him.
"He told them that they had failed their test. They had not shown him kindness when he had come down to live amongst them. And as a result of their failure, their failure to be hospitable to him, their society would be cursed for many generations to come.
"The people realized that he was a god. They begged and pleaded to be spared. And the great god Shakur, in all of his never ending mercy, told them that they could repent. He told them that they could be spared, and their society could be spared, if they never again treated any god with the harsh treatment that they had treated the great god Shakur with. And the people heard this. And they promised him.
"And so the great god Shakur ascended to Heaven, and there he is to this day, watching over us."
"All hail!" the people cried.
"All hail!" the master of ceremonies answered. "I see that you have all given the great god Shakur many offerings. I commend you! You have shown him that our people will no longer mistreat and neglect the gods. You have shown him that our people will from now on show the gods the greatest respect. All hail!"
"All hail!"
"We must now give all the offerings to the great god Shakur," the master of ceremonies continued, "by dropping our offerings in the Sacred Lake, the bottom of which is a portal to the gods. You will now follow me! After you have gathered all your offerings!"
So the people all took their many blankets, their many bouquets of flowers, their jewelry and jewels and coins and cash, their many electronics, and they held them in crystal boxes. They marched in a joyous and confident procession to the large, unfathomably deep lake, and they stepped upon the wide, marble bridge that crossed over that lake. From the middle of the bridge, they spilled the contents of their crystal boxes out into the lake, all the wealth vanishing forever into the deep lake bottom.
They then all walked back to the entrance of the park, to the large metal gates that kept out of the park all the people who slept on the streets. They got ready to exit the park, in a long line just as they had entered.
At the mouth of the gates, just outside the park, there was a line of beggars, each holding out a begging bowl to the richly-clad procession. There were a few men, a few women, a person who was both, a person who was in between, a person who was not either. There were a couple of teenagers. They all held deep sorrow in their eyes as they begged the finely-dressed line of people if they could spare some coins.
Most people did not give the beggars any money, though there were some people that gave them some low-value coins that were not worth much.
What the comfortable people did not know was that these beggars were all Shakur. They were all Shakur and they were all themselves, all at the same time. For Shakur is in each and every person who comes to us, asking for our help. Shakur is in every single person who does not have what they need or is abused. Shakur loves the poor, and Shakur is within each and every member of the poor, of the mistreated, of the abused And the promise is broken.
If you like this piece check out my Mastodon my account is FSairuv@mas.to and I post about human rights, social justice, and the environment.

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