So I’m watching a PBS program about
religious pilgrimages. This episode is
about purifying in the Ganges. I hear
the voice of a Hindu guru who has
millions of followers worldwide. I look
up from my dinner in front of the TV and
see this guy in yellow robes who, if he
shaved, would look really familiar. To
me, he doesn’t say anything particularly
profound, mostly a lot of stuff like
Robert Schuller used to say about the
power of positive thinking, but I realize
the guru sounds and looks, if the guru
wore a white coat, exactly like my
allergist, a guy who prescribed just
the right medicine for my asthma. I
wonder if the great Hindu guru moon-
lights as a physician in my home town
in Michigan and then I think if he does,
he, a man of science and medicine, would
never get into that filthy river with
millions of other people because of all
the allergies and infections just waiting
for the those hoards of spiritual pilgrims.
I think he would stand on the bank, turmeric
dyed chiffon robes flowing in the breeze,
mumbling a sacred power of positive
thinking prayer before hoping a
plane to the US.