Personally Outraged..

King St Louis 9th. Tuesday 25th August, 2020

When I heard from a streamed service this morning that it was the feast day of King Louis 9th of France my mind was distracted. He was the man who founded the Sorbonne, a place of learning and of seeking the truth. He was also a friend of the great philosopher and theologian, St Thomas Aquinas, another seeker of truth. I pondered the thoughts of power and holiness. I have raged often, mainly to myself, over the dictatorships of our day. I look to Russia, the recent poisoning of a leading opposition politician, to their interference in Belarus and the Ukraine. I look to China and its treatment of dissidents, the Uighurs and now Hong Kong. North Korea is just a hell hole of repression and torture and corruption, it seems. Why is there such cruelty, such suppression, so much trampling of human rights and the use of torture? And they are not the only countries as we hear of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and more.

Even now supposed Democracies have deeply disturbing trends. I hope I am not just spouting my own prejudices or the false news and views of the media. I have listened to the Republican Convention speakers in America as I listened to those of the Democratic Convention. To some President Trump is the Saviour of American freedoms, the champion of personal rights and Liberty, the man with the vision of a great America, the bulwark against the encroachment of the totalitarian State. To others he is the manipulator of the system, the abuser of his Office, the cheat and the liar who is filled with self importance and self aggrandisement. Already they say he is undermining the next election by attacking the postal vote, by demonising the Democratic Party, by traducing individual political figures and repeating slogans with no basis in fact and no decency of style.

In our own United Kingdom we find less and less unity and more division and power play and sound bite. Ministers appearing incompetent and dishonourable do not resign. Government servants flout their own regulations and refuse to acknowledge or depart from office. Accusation and allegations of bullying by Secretaries of State are unacknowledged or ignored or unattended upon.

What of the example of Louis 9th? A ruler with power and a man of holiness.

The love of a leader is more effective than the fear of one. Respect and persuasion and consensus and concern for the ruled should be more persuasive than the bullying tactics of a State police, more successful than bribery and corruption and the instilling of fear or the use of spies and underhand collaborators. How I admire the peaceful protest, the courage of the principled person, the bravery of the solidarity movement rather than the hard hit of the police or their use of guns and threats. The poisoned political opponent in Russia, the shooting of blacks in America and the clamp down in Hong Kong and the threats in Belarus are despicable. Martin Luther King, Gandhi are held in higher esteem than Idi Amin and Mugabe.

Is our society not geared to allowing love and peace and concern and integrity to flourish among our rulers and establishment class? Does it prefer and even admire greed, corruption, deceit and the pursuit of power whatever the cost?

Would you prefer your parents to rule, as it were, by love or fear, by the rod or the heart?

Can I echo the words of a truly holy leader: ' forgive them for they know not what they do'. Or secretly do I want to wipe out those dictators? If the latter I am no better than they, if the former I must expect to be crucified if only metaphorically.