One of the great unsolvable human mysteries, for this commentator, continues to be how, during the final days of one of the Judeo/Christian community’s most holy observances, leaders and followers of the most diverse political opinions and policies can put them casually aside, for the duration of their respective religious participations. Then, ignore the hallowed words and meanings they’ve mouthed, as they blithely return to the most miserably consequential and unsavory shenanigans, in their games of political one-upmanship.
This puzzled and troubled poetic pundit cannot escape remembering words by Plato, he once read: “….Until political greatness and wisdom meet as one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, our cities will never have rest from their evils.”
Thinking on this, one can’t help wondering just how sincerely those we’ve chosen to organize and manage our government consider themselves ‘true believers?’ Which also brings to the mind of this disgruntled and still searching observer, the inescapable wisdom of the eminent British Catholic theologian, Cardinal John Henry Newman.
In a letter to one of his questioning parishioners, he made what may have been the most succinct argument for citizens’ rights and governmental responsibility in a people’s democracy, ever presented. “We can believe what we choose,” he reminded her and added: “But we are answerable for what we choose to believe.”
It’s time we demanded of all our political leaders and representatives, that they be much more answerable than they currently are…..or aren’t, as the case may be. Something a bit more serious to think upon, with April Fools’ Day awaiting all of us, just around the corner.
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