Brian’s Reflection: Monday, December 19, 2011

There's many men forget their proper station

And still are meddling with the administration

Of government; that's wrong and this is right,

And such a law is out of reason quite;

Thus, spending too much thoughts on state affairs,

The business is neglected, which is theirs.

So some fond traveler gazing at the stars,

Slips in next ditch, and gets a dirty arse.

from Poor Richard’s Almanac; it was first published
on this date, by Benjamin Franklin, 1732


Ha! Do you think that some spirit was channeling Ben and came and whispered in my ear a few minutes ago??? Just to make the point that Ben Franklin still has something relevant to say to us today?

With all due deference to my “conservative” friends (I don’t really understand what “conservative” means, do you??), it seems to me that lots of men (and women) are forgetting “their proper station” (i.e., as compassionate and conservative persons, as they have claimed for themselves since G. Bush claimed to be a “compassionate conservative” years ago now) and are “meddling with the administration of government”! And let me tell you something: I was talking with Jesus just this morning and, as the incomparable bumper-sticker said years ago, “He is coming ….. and boy is He pissed”. Himself confirmed this with me in the Hour of Prayer this morning.

Lots of Americans these days, Americans who were brought up to “gaze at the stars” of the American Dream and hope for a good Life, are finding that they have slipped into a “ditch”, and found themselves with a “dirty arse” …. that is, a really miserable life. They are the 99% ….. and the 1% seem above it all …. many of them claiming that they are devout Christians. Jesus is ….. well …. shocked.

Jesus told me this over a Black Russian (it was, after all, after Noon! - and He goes to enormous lengths to make a guy feel comfortable) that He originally blessed the 1% so that they would be able to assist the 99% of His “sheep”, since after all He had made an enormous effort to rescue 1 (%) of the sheep that had wandered away from His Gospel Path. Jesus is astonishingly kind and caring, I have to say! He is not easily provoked to nastiness, alas as I would easily be! (beast beating, “mea culpa, mea culpa”)

So, I am delivering the message Himself asked me to deliver to the many men and women who have “forgot their proper station” for the “business which is theirs”:

Love your neighbours, and see that they have what they need for a decent Life.

Or: Karma being Karma (yes, there is a Christian version of this ancient truth!) you will soon have a “dirty arse”!

Humbly, Brian+