Rediscovering Søren Kierkegaard
by Sabrina Dawkins
On 3-3-2020 (1?) 3-3-20 (eternity?)
I dreamed I had a college test
the next day.
To prepare, I needed to read a book
counter to Kierkegaard
and a notebook of class notes that I took.
In the dream, this was normal.
My perspective needed to broaden.
But anti-Kierkegaard,
I realized upon waking,
is anti-Christian and anti-God.
Why, to pass an exam,
would my college
teach me anti-God fodder?
My social sciences education
did not teach about Kierkegaard
or God.
Instead, I learned about Foucault
and Karl Marx.
Different-colored stale bagels
were in the dim dorm kitchen
lined up on shelves like books.
I was even encouraged
to butter one up
before eating.
But I didn’t even pick it up.
To bread, I’m allergic.
I just looked at the various colors
of bagels on the bookshelf,
lined up so neatly
that they didn’t look like food at all.
Was this what I was supposed to consume
in college instead of Kierkegaard?
Karl Marx, Michel Foucault,
anti-God musings?
Despite his absence in college curriculum,
Kierkegaard came into my life
and made Christians three-dimensional,
brave, intelligent,
as Malcolm X had shown
that power could be exercised for good.
Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky
make Christians cool.
But it wasn’t until years later
when I separated from the world theater
that I picked up Kierkegaard again,
looking for answers,
that God transformed me for good.