"He was quoting the bible...Revelations...Behold a pale horse...and the man who sat on him was Death...and Hell followed with him." - Tombstone

This was one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies of all time, Tombstone. I say "was" because I can't think of this quote now without thinking of a quasi religious experience I had years ago one morning on my way to work. A man and a woman boarded the bus somewhere around the halfway point of my commute. They seemed pretty benign. They sat down in the middle seats of the bus where it breaks away into an "accordion" style casing to allow the extended buses to jack-knife around corners. A few minutes after they boarded I began to notice the gentleman reading enthusiastically, flailing his arms about and punctuating his sentences with a stern nod of the head. Other passengers began to take notice as well, but being the introverted, passive/aggressive city dwellers that many Seattleites are, most of us were content to ignore his display. My attention was drawn in further, however, as I noticed WHAT he was emphatically reading. The bible. Almost on cue, as if he sensed my realization, he stood up and began to read aloud:

6:8 And behold, a pale horse, and he who sat on it, his name was Death. Hell followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him. 6:9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. 6:10 They cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 6:11 A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course. 6:12 I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood. 6:13 The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind.
6:14 The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 6:15 The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. 6:16 They told the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 6:17 for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?"

"Holy shit" was my first thought while he was reciting Revelations and this doomsday prophecy. And the more he recited, the louder and more animated he became. I think what disturbed me most was not this "Transit Preacher" spouting fire brimstone, but how non-affected ANYBODY was. No one acknowledged his tirade at all. I'm sitting here thinking this dude may very well decide to pull a Christian Jihad and sacrifice us all in the name of "The Lamb" and these people are preoccupied with reading Dan Savage's recent column in The Stranger, and what advice Ann Landers was spouting in this week's P.I. But what I now have come to understand is that they were all, most likely, just as mortified as I was. They chose to feign interest in their papers and coffee as a way to not deal with this unexpected outburst. Except for the guy reading Dan Savage's recent column, most likely about someone questioning their sexuality, because let's face it, that stuff is like a Jerry Springer car wreck. You just can't NOT read it.