Jesus In Los Angeles

The other day, while driving to the Hollywood Bowl for a girls' night out, we saw this character walking down the street.  All of us shouted "JESUS" in unison and started snapping photographs. It's amazing that this certain image of Jesus is so ingrained in people's minds such that when a lanky white dude with long brown hair, a beard, and sporting a long shapeless robe, people instantly identify him as Jesus. I'm not even a Christian of any sort, but decades of visiting museums and looking at art by Europeans are enough to imprint the Europeans' image of Jesus in just about anyone.

A few days later, I saw on TV news that this Jesus character had been spotted all over Los Angeles, at LACMA, and other locations.  Apparently, "Jesus" is a man by the name of Kevin Lee Light who dons his Jesus garb regularly and roams the streets of LA and makes appearances in various events just to be spotted by unsuspecting people like myself. He even has a web site dedicated to photos people snap of him. http://www.isawjesusinla.com/. He is seen at the gay pride parade, at the hot dog stand, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and just mingling with regular folks, as you know who also did.

Since no one in his or her right mind would really think Mr. Light is the real Jesus, sometimes, I truly wonder what drives people like him to do what they do. Does he even have a day job? I wonder. Maybe he's a carpenter by trade. At least he gives people something to talk about.Only in LA.