Kings and Priests

World history has stretched out now for quite a long time. . . centuries and millennia of Time in which people come and go speaking of Michelangelo, or Larry, Moe and Curly Joe, or Joe Dimaggio, or Joe Biden or what happened in Dallas or what happened at Kent State or what happened to Sharon Tate or what makes people stupid or what makes makes people great. Phones, for instance, make people stupid. Ha ha, just kidding! whereas computers make people smart. As for Ai, well, we revert to the old assent of sailors: Aye, aye, sir! We pretty do much what ‘they”—whoever they are— tell us to do, while we think we’re telling them what to do. Haha! Just kiddfing. Anyway, I was noticing that, through human history, we have leaders who make things happen and we have followers, citizens who do the stuff when push comes to shove. Generally, throughout most of history, those leaders who make things happen were called, kings, or emperors. A couple of centuries ago we shifted our emphasis to call them presidents or prime ministers. In ancient times, a prophet, Samuel, was trying to help his tribe with some divinely inspired counsel, while they were dealing with some terrible problems, relating to governance and security and whatnot. I was pondering this recently and so I took a look in the Old Book and found the advice—or warning—that he had told his people, back in the day, and this is what he said: “I’m telling you. . . if you appoint a king over you, this is what he will do: he’ll take your sons and place them for himself in chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for the chariots. He will take your daughters for cooks and bakers. He’ll take the best of your fields and your groves and give them to his servants.He’ll take (modern: tax, appropriate) your vineyards, your servants, your donkeys, a tenth of your flocks, and blah blah blah. . .” Even so, though, the people said don’t worry about it! We got this! Now that was a long time ago, and times have changed and everything is different now but in some ways its the same as it’s ever been. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. What else is new? and What’s it to you?! But it’s all good, y’all! I mean, we can manage it, but every now and then some whacko breaks loose to try to take absolute control, like hitler did back in ’38, or like putin is trying to do now. Even so, We the People do elect and appoint people to try and keep things going on an even keel, and keep the kings of the earth from tearing down the whole kitnkaboodle with their power grabs. And yes, Virginia, we do still have “priests.” That is to say, smart people whose job is to guide us into paths of reason and righteousness, or at least try to. Nowadays the priests have, in many cases, morphed into the eggheads and professors and bureacrats whose job it is to keep things on an even keel instead of going off the deep end, like they did back in the ’30’s, at Sudetenland and Poland and Dachau and Auschwitz, and Dallas and Memphis and just wherever bad people try to start another sh**storm. And so, just sayin’, y’all. Don’t let your knickers down for just anybody. Pay attention, pay your taxes, your bills, your dues, sing the blues, and we’ll get through this in the sweet by ’n by, even our rich uncle think we’ve lost a screw or two,

and don’t get too bent outa shape about anything, Glass half-Full