The Fluttering of a White Curtain
My commute to work was extra long this morning as I kept getting lost on freeway exits, taking wrong turns, driving in circles. I was distracted. I have been growing progressively atheistic with age, yet today, just as the people gathered at the St. Peter’s square in Rome, I was carried away by the anticipation over the announcement of the new pope elect. The live coverage of NPR filled a lot of the waiting time before the announcement with descriptions of the awaiting crowds, relating the smallest movements behind the window over the balcony draped by a red banner. Every fluttering of a white curtain behind the red drapes, caused exclamatory vocalizations from the gathered below. The tension was clearly mounting with every passing minute. Listening and learning about the papal electoral process had me realize, that most, if not all of the customary procedures are meant to induce awe and mystery, beginning with the seclusion of the cardinals and smoke signaling as the means of communication, through the ceremonial revelation of the new pope and the final procession. The impenetrable and secret nature of the process was what caused the waves of excitement and gasps from the crowds. Maybe it was the allusion to the white curtains tasseled and swaying which had me connote the event with the Victorian excitement men experienced while catching a glimpse of a still fully stockinged female ankle revealed on occasional swaying or lifting of the long skirted dresses. At no point today would such sight induce beads of sweat to roll down any desiring foreheads. Withhold, deny, tease, play - and the crowds will be roaring. Oh why… are we made this way?!