Licensing

[Mark Levinson <mark -at- MATIS -dot- INGR -dot- COM>]

Can anybody play the devil's advocate and say
what the purported advantages might be?
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Your honor, my client Lucifer has been practicing his-- yes, I will
say it-- his profession for many years.  And yet he is scorned as a
so-called devil.  True, he cannot play the harp like some of you, or sing
sweet psalms.  But he possesses different skills, of no less value in
the cosmic scheme, and therefore he requests to be licensed as a
perdition engineer.

Lucifer needs this certification from an independent body, because his
employer-- who is responsible for assessing him-- is trained in holiness,
which is quite a different field, and has no idea whether Lucifer is doing
well or poorly.

Lucifer needs this certification because a lot of other souls are hacking
around the cosmos calling themselves devils when their only qualification is
that they learned a few swear words in grade school.  Lucifer's standing
suffers from his being classed with these dilettantes.

There is, alas, a grain of truth in the contention that no one is a devil
unless he is not good enough at more respectable pursuits; because many in fact
became devils that way.  Anyone naively summoning devils can easily be confused,
and for that reason many prefer simply to stick in any case with the devil
they know, ignoring others of greater competence and dedication.

Sometimes Lucifer has trouble even approaching a soul at the crossroads,
because sleazy competitors have accustomed the public to cheaper deals
and the eventual screams of complaint go unheard or misunderstood, being
themselves from souls in torment anyway:  for the mildly damned are wracked
on fiendish instruments, the guiltier are damned to operate and repair
those fiendish instruments, and the utterly damned are condemned to write clear
and concise instructions.

_________________________________________________________________________
 Mark L. Levinson           | E-mail:   mark -at- matis -dot- ingr -dot- com
 Publications Manager       | Voice:    +972-9-584684, ext. 230 (work),
 SEE Technologies Ltd.      |           +972-9-552411 (home)
 Box 544, Herzlia, ISRAEL   | Fax:      +972-9-543917
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