In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Ode to Responsibility
Shame me once, fool on me, shame me twice, fool on me, shame me every minute of every hour every day and I become a shameless fool. Yet why do those who continually make me feel enduring shame always feel themselves perfectly shameless?
The answer is that to be righteous one must always be right, and always being right means infallibility -- and being infallible means that one never, under any circumstances, conspicuous or otherwise, cedes the high moral ground on any subject for any reason, because infallibility is a divine appointment, and one divinely appointed is appointed by the Divine. Thus one is entitled to find faults in others but perfect faultlessness in oneself; and since such Divine entitlement is entitled only to the Divinely entitled, one is entitled to feel perfect shamelessness as well.
The God of Wisdom tells us that the one true God is Great and Good, and confers goodness upon his people because we are His children; and since goodness begets goodness, we His people therefore must needs be great and good. It therefore stands to reason that good people beget good people.
Yet where Evil dwells, the kinder, gentler Hand of the God of Mercy and Compassion, guided by the smiting Hand of War and uneven Hands of Justice, insists on an eye for an eye -- no, make that two eyes and a whole head for nothing -- for God is jealous and trucks no dissent, especially in God's country (the old one, not the new one), and if you don't like it, prepare to suffer the consequences of His wrath.
The Gods of Honor and Integrity (who were born identical twins) never could account for their service to the God of Accountability, who never held them accountable, which is a shame, since all the other gods also consistently failed to notice that they were missing -- a truly inconspicuous absence.
Yet the God of Evil is always missing and everpresent at the same time, even if he never turns up, and the God of Fear is having a field day. Truth is unconcerned though, because truth is double-edged, a sword that cuts both ways (the God of War made sure of this), and if truth is a paradox, then the reverse is also true. But be warned: while this may certainly be true today, it may not be true tomorrow, and vice-versa. Beauty concurs with this, and that's the beauty of it.
Guilt, cousin to Grief, went out for a little walk and never came back -- lost in a desert probably, with his head stuck in the sand; but sadly we'll never know, because the only eyewitness -- Grief -- is completely hidden from view and forbidden to show her face, ever. This too is a shame, a crying shame.
But if all this shames a fool like me, I expect no less from shameless fools.
- Michael 4:43 PM - [PermaLink] -
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