Shortcut

“See ya sucker!” tom said taking his shortcut to the finish line.

Joel got up covered in mud and continued on the path “Now I’ll never catch him”.

But as he finished Tom could not be seen. Apparently Tom never finished the race.

Tom was found 3 days later 10 km off the race path.

Picture this.....

your vision is blurred by the white flakes that topple endlessly from the dark sky above. The cold air nips at your face and fingers, but the rest of your body feels warm and is anxious with sweat. Smacking your lips together your are able to feel how chapped you lips are and the blood that you spilt the last time a similar situation went wrong. You ignore the sensation, this is no time to back out.Board strapped to your feet you feel confident in your abilities, another day another challenge this is what you live for. Someone starts to shout out numbers counting down from "five". "Four" start your approach. "Three" you tuck and and gain speed as your heart rate increases. "Two" you lock your eyes on your blue target not letting your focus waver. "One" you let all rational thought dwindle away as you take flight . Locked in your body is kept ridged, one small spazm here and it could cost you in bones and blood. Your trip is over quickly as it always is you start the 20 foot decent to earth spinning all the while. The landing pad seems miniscule as you approach it, "fooop" you land on the flat temporarily blinded by the snow that arises from under you. Bent knees and butt almost touching the ground, you taste sweet success as you ride away another day.

The connection I have made between "Angels and Demons" and "Dover Beach" is that the both demonstrate periods of loss of religious faith in the modern world. In "Dover Beach" The Aegean Sea is described as "The Sea of Faith". In the past the tide "Was once, too, at the full, and round the earth's shore", giving faith in god to everyone. Now "Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, retreating, to the breath of the night of the wind, down the vast edges drear and naked shingles of the world", as the tide goes down so does the faith that people have. This is comparable to the modern conclave in "Angels and Demons". In the past conclave had been a popular media event around the world, but now very few media stations are covering the story. The lack of media exposure at conclave is a result of the depleting amount of people that go to church and are deeply involved in religion.

Without faith the earth would become "a darkilng plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, where ignorant armies clash by night". Just like in "Angels and Demons" faith is the only thing that seems to keep our world together. Without faith science would take over our world and no moral value would exist. When the camerlengo has a revelation about where the antimatter is located, he askes for the faith of everyone around him to belive that he has not gone crazy. When he is able to dispose of the antimatter safetly he saves the church and in away the faith of the world by proving that one can talk to god even in todays world.