Just when you think you’re close to figuring it all out, you get hit with a series of contradictory events that seems to unsettle the structure of your philosophical perspective. That’s O.K., however. Sometimes we need to reflect upon the things we believe to evaluate their worth. Often it results in the philosophical structure becoming stronger than it was before the occurrence of such events. To understand this better, perhaps it would be best to start first with a story that was conveyed to me some time ago as being true before getting to the events of which I speak.
As my daughter used to put it when she was about three, once a “puddle” time there was a man of fabulous wealth. One night he and his wife, in the company of a couple of more modest means, were late getting to a banquet being held at their city’s most luxurious hotel to honor both this man’s many accomplishments and his extraordinary philanthropy.
While the four of them were hurrying to cross the street in front of the hotel, however, the wealthy man stopped suddenly in the middle of the road to bend down and pick something up that apparently only he had noticed. Looking back to see why he had stopped, the other man’s wife saw that what he had picked up was a penny. After looking upward briefly as he put the penny in his pocket, only then did he seem to refocus and hurry on to catch up with the others who, by then, were already about to enter the hotel. At first the woman who had watched him do this remained silent, but as they all approached the banquet room, the woman couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer. She had to ask -- why would a man of his tremendous wealth even think of stopping to pick up a penny. For many years afterwards, however, she was glad she did. His explanation left her with the most lasting and treasured memory of that evening.
He told her that when he was a young man he had committed to stay true to whatever path would be set before him by God, trusting in the belief that, if he held to that commitment, God would bless his life in return. And so it was. But, as the years passed by and he found himself acquiring much, he knew that it would be easy for him over time to forget the pact he had made with God as a youth. So he felt it was important from time-to-time to stop and consider whether or not he had remained true to his part of the bargain. And that’s where the penny comes in. He told the woman that the penny was the only coin in the realm that was emblazoned with the words “In God We Trust.” So, whenever and wherever he happened to come upon one, he felt compelled to pick it up and consider those words as they applied to his life. It was one of the ways he reminded himself that all that was his was indeed a gift from the one with whom he had made a deal. And, in turn, that would remind him of his obligations under that same compact to stay true to whatever path his God might choose to set before him.
Now, for the contradictory recent events I first spoke of above, consider the following. First, we are given Representative Foley who was recently revealed to be a closeted gay man with a propensity for sending promiscuous missives via e-mail to boys working within his sphere of influence. Then came the screaming protests of those who acted like Foley had done something bad, without ever really being able to articulate exactly why it was bad. Of particular fascination to me, was also the fact that many, if not most, of those screeching voices we heard were emanating from the mouths of this country’s leading Democrats. In fact, the more they carried on, they were beginning to leave me with the distinct impression that some of them actually thought gay behavior is somehow really a bad thing. Whatever the case may be, though, they seem to have unwittingly tapped some emotional nerve running through this country that proved to be to their benefit. Shortly after the Foley debacle, we witnessed the victory of the Democrats, who retook control of both houses of Congress last week for the first time in twelve years. But now along comes Elton John who seems hell-bent this week on screwing it all up for them. He’s put out a call saying all religion should be banned completely … if you’re a Democrat who called for Foley to resign, you should love this … because he believes all the religions of the world promote hatred of gays. Isn’t that just super? Not one week after the Democrats finally seemed to have gotten some sort of handle on the political realities of this country, they now find their parade being rained on from, of all places, the John? And that’s not even getting to what Foley must be thinking about all this: “Where was the Sir Elton when I groping about for someone to rise to my defense or, at the very least, to extend to me, if nothing else, a helping hand?”
Confusing? Perhaps, it would seem so at first blush. But, if you think about it very much at all, it’s not really. I, for one, would prefer the simple philosophy of life exemplified by the wealthy man in the first story above. Although living out his philosophy may not always be easy, at least is seems that it would be easier for him to be more assured of his place in this universe and of his standing in reference to its creator at any given moment in his life. And for the present moment, suffice it to say, that’s more than I can say for Foley, many secular Democrats and Elton John.
© 2006 Clifford C. Nichols, Esq.
Cliff Nichols is an attorney practicing criminal defense in Santa Monica, California. He may be contacted regarding this editorial at either (310) 458-1739, cliff@cliffnicholslaw.com or www.cliffnicholslaw.com and you may join his blog at www.thedailystand.com.