And so it was pronounced: there would be a gathering of the multitude, and musicians would play and fireworks would light the sky. The people were joyous, for they had just beheld the resignation of a powerful leader who had sought to rule through discrediting these free people. A note of justice was to be heard through the festival.
There are always those who would profit from such a gathering, and this is just, when the people’s needs are considered and so provided for.
Many came from far-off places; it was said 230,000 gathered together. Some brought tents and waited; some brought blankets and waited; some brought only their temple of flesh and they too waited.
The day of the festival dawned to find some 75,000 already inside the gates. In this age we have beheld such gatherings where the vibration was one of love and brotherhood. This spirit calls to many and so many came.
High above the ground were the rooms of observation. One, the Pressbox, was filled with SBI and other law enforcement agencies. The other, the VIP building, held the fortunate people, those responsible for the gathering. One in this room was heard to say, “Observation makes for disdain of the masses.”
In this building it was easy to be clean. There were many rooms and in each there was a bathroom for women and one for men. There was running water to keep it clean. There were messengers to bring demands from the health department, but alas how could anything be done with so many to care for?
In the time of Christ there were also gatherings and among them were beggars of spare change, the lepers with death in their eyes. Here, too, were empty temples singing, “Downs,” “Works.”
And the law stayed in its place and so did the fortunate. No aisles were cleared to make paths for the sick. The toilets went unemptied and the music played on.
This was no festival. This was the Charlotte Jam.
