In 49 B.C. when Julius Caesar, at the head of his armies, crossed the Rubicon River between Italy and Gaul he has been said to have shouted the phrase, Alea iacta est, a Latin way of saying “The Die is Cast.” That expression, either in the original Latin or in translation, is used in many languages to indicate that events have passed a point of no return. With that crossing, Caesar was irrevocably committed to a course of action that precipitated a war against Pompey and the Roman Senate. That civil war ultimately led to Caesar's becoming dictator for life.
We have a modern equivalent used to express a similar sentiment for The Die is Cast or passing the point of no return; “Jumping the Shark” or “Jumped the Shark.”
The idiom "jumping the shark" or "jumped the shark" is a phrase coined in 1985 by radio personality Jon Hein in response to a 1977 episode from the fifth season of the American sitcom Happy Days, in which the character of Fonzie jumps over a live shark while on water-skis. The stunt was so unlike the Fonz, outside the Happy Days world, and such an exaggeration of the sitcom’s original purpose that it marked the beginning of the end for Happy Days. They had crossed the Rubicon, a point from which there was no return to the summit of the program’s popularity.
Just as in the case of Caesar, it would take some time for the process to play out to its end, Happy Days would never be the same. It could not be redeemed.
Speaking of Happy Days, what say ye? Has our Babylonian culture Jumped the Shark or Crossed the Rubicon? Have we reached the point of no return and are just waiting a couple of seasons for the Lord’s plan to play out?
For most, ‘Happy Days’ is quickly becoming a memory with Babylonian repentance being the only clear path back to the summit. Not likely.
Is the die now cast?
What say ye?
Signed
John The-Not-So-Beloved
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