Survivor
by Frank R. Fisher, Obl OSB

Surviving
is surviving!
Ain't nothin'
more important
than surviving.

And you
should know that
'cause your name's Jason.
You're a survivor.
At least
 that's what all the others
 in your gang
say about you.
And they should know.
since they've been surviving
 on the street
 for years.
Sometimes
they're just barely surviving.
But hey,
like you said,
surviving is surviving!
You know 
what I mean.

Since your parents 
tossed you out,
you've gotten to be
 the best survivor on the street.
Of course
 all the money 
you took with you
sort of helped.
It also helped 
your parents realize
they shouldn't leave 
those endorsed checks 
laying around.
And it didn't really matter
that the money 
didn't last too long.
After all
it did last you 
long enough
for you to hook up
 with your gang.

Most of the money
 went to Richie
the boss man.
He called it
 your initiation fee.
You didn't like that
 too much at the time.
But it taught you
 a valuable lesson.
You see,
after Richie scammed you 
out of the money,
you decided
 you were never 
going to be taken 
again.
>From now on,
you thought,
you're not going to be taken
like Richie took you,
or like you 
took your parents.
Instead, 
 you're going
 to be the one
who's doing the taking.
You're not just 
going to survive.
You're  going to survive
 in style.
And
 you're going to survive
 on top.

It took awhile for you 
to take over the gang 
from Richie.
And you had to stomp 
him up 
pretty bad
before you did it.
At first
 some of the other dudes
 didn't take too kindly 
to having a newcomer
 be their boss.
But their attitudes changed
when they saw
how you 
were going to look out 
for them.
They could see
 how your
 surviving in style
would help them 
do the same.
And in a few weeks
there was money
 floating around
enough for everybody!

You started out
with the simple stuff.
You had them 
grabbing purses
and shaking down 
all the stores
for protection money.
That gave you enough money
to keep your buds happy.
And then
 you started thinking
about how to make 
some real dough.
For awhile
 you thought about 
selling dope.
But you thought 
that would attract
 a bit too much heat.
So instead,
you went in big
 for con games.

Even there
 you started small
so you could get to know 
the racket.
First,
 you hung around 
some neighborhoods,
and found where 
the old people lived.
Then you knocked 
on their doors
 to sell stuff.
They'd buy anything
if you really 
told the tale 
right.
You sold home repairs,
insurance,
vacation homes
and just about 
everything else 
in sight.
Of course
 none of it was real.
But hey,
that just kept 
your overhead low!

While you were busy 
hitting the houses
you sent your buds out
 to see the social workers.
They'd go from 
office to office,
and tell them a tale.
They'd say
 they'd just been laid off
or their children needed money 
for food.
It was amazing
 how much cash they raked in.

And they brought in
 more than money too.
Those social workers
gave out 
some pretty good leads
without even knowing it!
First 
they told you 
about this new preacher
who was riding 
from town to town
on Amtrak.
They said
 he always seemed 
to have big crowds
 around him.
Well that was perfect
 for a little 
pick pocketing.
But before 
you could get into 
that action,
you hit 
the big time.
You came across 
the greatest scam;
a scam that would be 
so perfect,
you'd be on top 
forever.

You see
the social workers 
told your buds
the city 
was looking for someone
 to run schools 
for little kids.
They wanted 
to start those schools
 all over the city.
They called the schools,
day care.

Well this was perfect.
You got a hold of your guy
with a printing press.
And he made up 
teacher's certificates
and college diplomas
 for all your gang.
Then 
you got all dressed up
and went down 
to city hall.
There
 you showed off
 the credentials
of your qualified staff.
And
you dropped 
a couple of big ones
in a pocket or two.
Pretty soon
you were in business.

You sent your buds out
to rent dumps 
all over the city.
They found 
the perfect places
where they could keep 
the little kids
for a few hours 
every day.
They'd feed them
 a candy bar or two,
just let them hang out,
and then 
they'd take them home.
Their parents would think
they were actually 
teaching these kids.
So they'd be paying you 
big bucks
and you'd be spending
 almost nothing.

Your plans
 for your schools
were going pretty well.
And you decided
 you'd earned a break.
But of course
 it had to be a 
profitable break.
So you went down
 to the Amtrak station,
to check out 
the prospects
 around that new preacher.
If nothing else
hanging around him,
 could be a way 
for your buds
 to make pocket money.
They could always use 
a little extra income
after they were done 
teaching.
And maybe,
you thought,
they could take 
some of those kids along.
They could call it 
a field trip.
Then they could teach 
the kids
to pick pockets too.

Well you found the preacher
in the Walmart parking lot.
He was a man
named Jesse,
or Jesus,
or something like that.
But when you found him
you found a lot more
 than you thought 
you'd find.

At first
 you thought 
you'd found
 the perfect con man.
He was sitting 
in the parking lot
 with his buds,
people you heard
 he called his disciples.
And they were all surrounded
by four thousand people!
Now these people
had come 
from a long way off.
And a lot of them
 were sitting there 
in the parking spaces
whining
 about bein' hungry. 

But this guy Jesus
didn't seem to mind
 all their noise.
In fact
he really seemed
 to care about them.
You heard him
 say to those disciples,
"I have compassion 
for the crowd,
because they have been 
with me now
 for three days,
and have nothing to eat."
Then you heard 
the disciples answer back,
"How can we feed
 all these people?"

Good question
 you thought.
But then 
this Jesus 
made the disciples
 cough up 
all the food they'd brought.
They had seven loaves of bread.
That's sure not going to go far,
you said to yourself.
Boy were you wrong.
For you saw Jesus
pray,
and then
 break the bread apart
to feed 
to that big crowd.
And they all
 had enough to eat!
Even you had some.
It was pretty good 
bread.

While you took a taxi home
you thought to yourself,
"what's this guy Jesus'
 angle?
He put the hook
 in this crowd 
pretty good.
But how's he going 
to collect?"
Well,
you weren't
 going to miss a chance
 to learn a new scam.
So you started following Jesus around
to see 
when he'd finally collect.

You followed him 
around for days
while your buds
 took over
 running the schools.
Down by the Farm and Fleet
you saw him 
make a blind man see.
And then 
you saw him down 
by the Amtrak station again.
He was booking a ticket 
to Jerusalem.
While he waited 
for the ticket
you heard him talk 
to the crowd
about it being really hard
 to be his disciples.
"If you want to become 
my followers,'
he said,
take up your cross 
and follow me."

"That's not the way 
to run a scam,"
 you thought.
So you began 
to get real close 
to Jesus
so you could find out
 what this was 
all about.

It didn't take too long
before you realized
Jesus 
wasn't running a scam
 at all.
He was the real thing.
At first
 you wanted to run away 
from him
because this much 
reality 
scared you 
to death.
But somehow 
you were hooked.
There was no longer 
any thought
in your head
 about 
coming out on top.
Instead you knew
you had to listen 
to Jesus
if you wanted 
to really survive.
You had to listen 
to everything 
he said.
You had 
to follow him
where ever he went.

Finally
 there came one day
when your life 
changed forever.
You ran into his disciples
at the base of the hill 
by the swimming pool.
You heard them 
saying something
 about Jesus
 being transformed 
up there on the hill.
They said they were sure
Jesus was the actual 
walking around 
in the flesh
born child 
of God.
And as you 
listened to them 
talk 
about him,
you knew in your heart,
they were right.

One day 
not too long 
after that
you were following him 
on the subway
to a neighborhood
 called Capernaum.
You thought
 the name 
of the place 
sounded familiar.
But you were too busy 
listening to his disciples
to think anything of it.

They were arguing again.
It seemed like 
they did 
a lot of that.
Anyway,
they were all arguing
about which 
one of them 
was the greatest.
Once
 you would've really 
been into that.
But things 
had changed a bit.

"Who cares who's greatest,"
you thought.

Well it looked like Jesus 
cared.
He stopped 
in front of a building.
And you jumped
 when you saw 
it was one of the schools.
your buds 
were running.
Jesus didn't seem to notice 
the school at first.
He was too busy
 talking to the disciples.

He told them,
"Who ever wants 
to be first
must be last of all,
and servant of all."
Then he noticed 
your school
and picked up 
one of the kids
 who was wandering 
outside it.
He brought the kid
into the midst 
of the disciples.
And he sat down 
on a bench 
on the sidewalk
while he looked right at you
and said,
"who ever welcomes 
one such child 
in my name
welcomes me,
and whoever welcomes me,
welcomes not me,
but the one 
who sent me."

You just sat still
while Jesus and the disciples 
moved on
back toward the subway station.
All your buds
 were calling to you.
But you didn't even hear them.
Then you knew
 what you had to do.

You went 
to the nearest tv station
and told them
 you knew something 
they'd like to know.
They liked it all right.
They liked it so much
they put you 
on the six o'clock news.
There,
on the tv,
you told the whole story
 of the day care scam.

The police
 were waiting for you
when you came out.
They wanted
 to hear your story again.
A little while later
a judge 
wanted to hear it too.
He sentenced you to jail,
but he told you
you could get good time 
off your sentence
if you'd take work release.
He wanted you to do
something
 called community service.

You took him up 
on his offer.
And he sent you 
right back
to the schools 
you'd started.
They were real schools now
with real teachers.
And you weren't running 
the place.
Instead
 you were changing diapers,
cleaning floors
and playing 
with the little kids.
It was 
hard and dirty work.
You loved 
every minute of it.

One day,
on your way back to jail
 after work,
you ran into
 your old gang.
Richie
 was back in charge.
He laughed at you,
and said,
"hey man
who's surviving 
now man?
Who's on top 
now man ?"

You looked right 
at him and said,
"I am man.
Who ever wants 
to be first
must be last of all,
and servant of all."

He looked at you 
kind of funny
and so you added,
"come on 
and walk with me
on the way back to jail.
And let me 
tell you
about this guy 
Jesus
who taught me
 about loving these kids.
Let me tell you
about the One
who taught me how
 to 
really 
survive."

To Jesus Christ,
 who loves us.
Who showed us by word
and example
to love 
all of God's children.
To Jesus
who freed us from our sins 
and made us to be a kingdom,
priests of our God and Creator,
to Jesus 
be glory and dominion 
forever and ever.
Amen.

(Comments to Frank at f.fisher.obl.osb@comcast.net.)