God and a Bag of Flour

Inadvertently expressive piece about the association of god and misery today in the Chroncle in an article about the takeover of Gaza by Hamas:

A resident of a Hamas-dominated neighborhood, identifying himself only as Yousef for fear of reprisal by his neighbors, said Gazans would always back the winner, regardless of ideology.

"Today everybody is with Hamas because Hamas won the battle. If Fatah had won the battle they'd be with Fatah. We are a hungry people, we are with whoever gives us a bag of flour and a food coupon," said Yousef, 30. "Me, I'm with God and a bag of flour."

I think it is the bag of flour that counts, but invoking some god serves both as a talisman in the magical sense of religion and a prosaic, distinctly secular, but hopeful plea that Yusuf might be spared by his neighbors should they find out about his blunt statement by reason of his belief ... in the sense that "I'm one of you, I believe, don't kill me." Good luck, Yusuf. We know it is rough corner of the world.