Mark of the Beast

My brief foray into the corporate sphere got me thinking bigtime about brands. It’s no big revelation, we are all familiar with how companies use brands to mark their territory. Not a million miles from animal behavior in the wild. In the case of monster corporations the practice is elevated to a whole other level. Apex predators in a human context mark their territory on the populace. Not hard to imagine the evil exec up on the sixtieth floor gleefully scanning the masses scurrying along the streetscape below like insects in a hive. “You are all my bitches now!” That’s what I had believed the prophecy alluded to. It is a serious business when dealing with signage pointing towards a system of global enslavement. Nothing to do with the end of the world department, hate those amateurs. For me the essence of Revelation is about seeing what is hidden. Usually the best kept secrets are concealed in plain sight. Though I was in my mid-twenties, people double-take when they hear me pontificating like an old preacher man against this newfangled world wide web. Everybody in my social circle grew familiar with my burgeoning revelatory pyromania. What can I say, it was a good way to spark up a conversation. Drinking pals upon seeing the matchsticks arranged on the bar in a 3W formation headed for the hills damn quick.

I didn’t feel put out, always plenty perched on the barstools to ply my apocalyptic trade. After just a few gargles it felt like I was staging one of the greatest Broadway productions. “Behold” I announce dramatically with the freak show in my voice. “Miss 3W ladies and gentlemen. Isn’t she a pretty, there’s nay a symbol on the globe that can her outmatch. OMG strike a pose you’re on fire.” Just as we were getting fired up, she has a wardrobe malfunction. At this stage three matches are removed to reveal three Roman numerals. 

“Can you see what I see, Miss 3W has been seen cavorting with another set of three. Oh dear, ladies and gentlemen she’s been doing a number with the mark of the beast itself.” For extra dramatic effect a cell phone is held up in an open palm. With eyeballs bulging I paraphrased the verse from Revelation. “And they shall worship the beast and receive its mark on their hands and foreheads, the whole world will buy and sell with its mark.” Normally I didn’t get a round of applause at this point in the presentation. I was usually looked upon as the worse matchmaker in history to have invoked such an ungodly match.

From Seescapes Chapter 8