Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Self-Abnegation On High

 A man sits in a wheelchair.

A sense of certainty, impetuosity and impatience

are traits of the young and the confident who

know the answers before questions are asked. It

is not they who are assigned to positions of 

public trust but the venerated elderly who have

left those traits behind and assumed those of

patience and empathy through long familiarity

with life and the minds of men. Not to condemn

but to listen and advise. Where the young see no

reason ever to excuse their excesses the elderly

sigh and beg pardon of those they have offended.

Little wonder that eyes turned to the presence of

a primate whose position in the orders of religious

devotion is that of the ultimate authority. Little 

wonder he assumed the role of great conciliator

bringing his elderly, ailing presence to an audience

demanding his attention so he could humbly beg

their forgiveness, not for a sin he committed but

one that human nature and the history of humanity

have a penchant for committing time and time again.



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