Bramble for President!

January 11, 2008, 2:30 pm; posted by
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I know it doesn’t show but I’m a cynic at heart. It wasn’t always that way; I came into the world wide-eyed, trusting and naïve. When my older brother took me out behind our garage on Olive Street at the tender age of 6, handed me a lit cigar, and said, “Inhale this as deep as you can,” I truly believed he had only my best interests at heart — and surely was not doing something just to amuse him and his best friend.

So whether I can blame him, or the first used car salesman I ever met, I don’t know, but I am what I am. Maybe it’s just an accumulation of impressions formed over the 46 years of fun I’ve had on this big, warm and fuzzy blue playground of a planet we call home.

Anyway, my favorite parable in the Old Testament appears in Judges chapter 9, and I always think about it during election years:

The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, “Reign thou over us,” but the olive tree said unto them, “Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?”
 

And the trees said to the fig tree, “Come thou, and reign over us,” but the fig tree said unto them, “Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?”
 

Then said the trees unto the vine, “Come thou, and reign over us,” and the vine said unto them, “Should I leave my wine, which cheers God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?”
 

Then said all the trees unto the bramble, “Come thou, and reign over us,” and the bramble said unto the trees, “If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow:”

bramble_for_presdent.jpg
They chose the tree that had nothing else going on in its life, the tree that would be useless and avoided at all costs, if not for their desire to have someone rule over them. They want a leader in the worst way — and that’s exactly what they get.

I’m no theologian, but the implication seems clear enough to me. The choice, for the trees, seemed to come down to being fruitful, productive citizens who refreshed their fellows with their rich and varied natural gifts — or becoming “public servants” who did none of those things. I hear all the rhetoric about “public service” and “civic duty,” but yeah, right. I don’t buy it.

My feeling has always been that the various hoops we make people jump through to get into high office almost invariably produce brambles. It has always saddened me to see how many young men and women are willing to give up a chance at good, honest employment for bramblehood.

It reminds me of Rich Mullins, who mentioned an ancestor of his who was elected to public office, but added something like: “We were able to overcome that as a family, and lead honest, productive lives.”


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