The inverted cross

In art school, a quirky teacher said that the Christian cross is one of the most beautiful symbols that exist. Vertically, it marks the timeline, and horizontally, it makes a break. "It is a literal representation of before and after, right in the middle is the son of man, dead," he said with solemnity, and we almost applauded him.

Exiting the class with Claudia, a classmate, we mulled over the idea. "Did you notice that when people cross themselves in church, they do it upside down? I mean, the distance between the forehead and the chest is inverted compared to that of the shoulders. To make a real cross, you would have to lower your arm to the navel or genitals, and that would be an offense. So, when we make the cross upside down, we are invoking the Antichrist, and that's why Jesus will never come back," she explained.

Although her reasoning made sense, I didn't feel like continuing the conversation. I started talking about how we spend our entire lives eating bread, and hardly any of us has seen a wheat field.

Years later, I found out that Claudia and the quirky teacher formed a relationship. Apparently, she got pregnant, and he abandoned her. "The same thing God did with the son of man," I said to myself.