THE
SEVEN DEADLY SINS GO WEST
OLD DYNAMITE!
By Bob Allen
“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”
Ephesians 4:26
“For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”
James 1:20
Deadly Sin: Wrath
CHARACTERS
Rocky Rhodes, – A Western cowboy.
Grizzly Armstrong -Long-time rancher.
SCENE
GRIZZLY
SITS ON A ROCK IN THE MIDDLE OF A VALLEY JUST BELOW A LARGE EARTHEN DAM. BESIDE HIM ON THE GROUND IS A BOX MARKED
“DYNAMITE” IN LARGE RED LETTERS. HE IS
BUSY ATTACHING A BLASTING CAP TO ONE OF THE STICKS OF DYNAMITE. IT IS JUST AFTER SUNSET AND THE LIGHT IS
FADING FAST
GRIZZLY: (LOOKS
AROUND AS IF HEARING SOMETHING.) Who’s there?
SFX: (A
SHEEP BLEATS.)
GRIZZLY: Don’t
try that hoot owl, sheep baa stuff on me.
I know you’re out there. Besides, there ain’t no sheep on the Grizzly
Bear spread. Never
has been and never will be.
SFX: (A
SHEEP BLEATS.)
GRIZZLY: I
said, don’t try that Indian signal stuff.
You ain’t foolin’ no one.
ROCKY: (OFFSTAGE) Is that you, Grizzly?
GRIZZLY: See? I told you you warn’t no stinking sheep.
ROCKY: (ENTERS) Have you seen a little lamb run past
here? I keep hearing
her but I can’t seem to catch up with her.
GRIZZLY: (JUMPS
TO HIS FEET, DROPPING THE DYNAMTE.) Confound you for a good-for-nothing,
flea-bitten, skunk-rotten scoundrel. What in the name of blazes do you mean
bringing a stupid,
brainless, bag of sheep bones onto my property.
ROCKY: Grizzly,
it’s only a lamb. A pet for my
kids. And this isn’t your property. All this land around the dam is open grazing.
You know that.
GRIZZLY: Used
to be mine. Belonged to my Daddy and his
Daddy before him. Weren’t no sheep allowed in those days you
can bet your bottom
dollar. No stinking sheep and no trashy
barbed wire wrappin’
around the legs of the longhorns every time they try to make a move.
ROCKY: So
I take it you haven’t seen my lamb.
GRIZZLY: You
had better be glad I haven’t. Ain’t room
for both sheep and cattle in this valley. Never has been and never will be. And I aim to
do something about it.
ROCKY: (NOTICES
THE DYNAMITE AND WALKS OVER TO LOOK INTO THE BOX.) Doing a little sweating there, Grizzly?
GRIZZLY: I
ain’t scared.
ROCKY: Not
you. This dynamite. It’s weeping into the bottom of your
box. And some of these sticks are covered
with crystals. Your nitro is sweating. How long have you had this box?
GRIZZLY: Been
in the family for generations. Daddy
blew things up all
the time.
ROCKY: It’s
dangerous in this condition. You best be
careful. What are you
planning to use it for anyway?
GRIZZLY: Justice! And the American way. The wrath of God. Vengeance is mine. I will repay!
Don’t you try to stop me. The
charges have already been set. This dam is about to blow sky high.
ROCKY: Flooding
the entire valley.
GRIZZLY: You
had better believe it. Getting rid of
all those stinking sheep and
all those blasted fences and all those land grabbers who came here
a hundred years ago and divided up my Daddy’s ranch into all those neighborhoods
and subdivisions with their schools and parks and
shopping malls.
ROCKY: How
long have you been harboring this anger?
GRIZZLY: All
this land was my Daddy’s. He just never
had the guts to do
anything about it.
ROCKY: So
he just sold them the land and made his fortune.
GRIZZLY: Sold
out to sheep farmers. Sold us down river
to the lowest of the low.
That’s why I’m going to wipe out the entire valley. I can’t live
with it anymore.
ROCKY: But
your house is in the valley. A flood
will destroy your family as well as everyone else.
GRIZZLY: Don’t
you try to reason with me. My mind’s
made up.
ROCKY: What
if I gave you the lamb?
GRIZZLY: If
that ain’t the confoundest thing you’ve ever said. Why in the name of tarnation would I want a
lamb?
ROCKY: You
could butcher it, or blow it up with all this dynamite. The valley would be free of sheep. You would have your revenge. And FEMA
wouldn’t have to get involved.
GRIZZLY: Blow
up a little lamb with all this here dynamite?
You’ve got to be
kidding, right? What kind of twisted,
depraved mind would it take
to attach a stick of dynamite to a lamb and blow it to kingdom come.
ROCKY: (LONG
PAUSE) Right! So.
You could take it home to your children. Let them raise it as a pet.
GRIZZLY: Take
a stinking sheep into my own house?
Teach my kids to love a
lamb? That would be the end of our way
of life. We’ve always hated
sheep. My Daddy and his Daddy and his
Daddy before him. I’d rather see them
dead first. I’d rather see them all dead
than to start
loving a lamb.
ROCKY: Then
I reckon you will see them dead. Whether
that old dynamite works or not. I reckon you will.
THE END
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Why is wrath considered a deadly sin?
- How does old dynamite illustrate the danger of wrath?
- How does wrath differ from anger?
- Is the passage of time significant in the development of wrath as a deadly sin?
- How does a wrathful person justify violent behavior while denying any desire to harm any individuals?
- How does Ephesians 4:26 connect wrath with the passage of time?
- Why does Ephesians 4:26 allow anger but condemn wrath?
- Why is it impossible for the wrath of man to be righteous according to james 1:20?
- How does wrath often destroy the very people a wrathful person believes he is protecting?
- How does cultivating a spirit of forgiveness provide a useful remedy for the sin of wrath?
No comments:
Post a Comment