YeKengalé

This is about the third time I’m writing about these issues and it will be my last. Time is too precious. We have to get on with living.

I recently endured the agony of sitting through a discussion and being subjected to a candid description of the lurid details of the alleged sex life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. These are the occasions in the past when I would have walked out of the room or assail whichever presumptuous speaker assumed they could take the liberty of defiling my ears without consequences. I let it slide. In the past, that had often made me look like a self-righteous prude, or even worse, a ridiculous sourpuss. Besides, if you have to tell somebody how to respect you, you have already lost the battle for their respect. So I humbled myself and sat it through to the end.

So I again address all the young upstarts of this world whose self importance blinds them from recognizing the age-old wisdom of the entering-backways-with-sheets approach to the scandalous behaviour of great men, and  include greater detail this time to explain what should be self-explanatory except for ignoramuses; but whatever the case, this really is the last time I intend to treat with the subject: I understand the jealousy of those who  try really hard for life to notice them; yet still it does not; but, status and significance are not rewards for good behaviour, they generally are a community’s expression of gratitude for meaningful contribution.

That which a community finds valuable has much less to do with the character of the contributor or even the nature of their contribution per se,  but the actual needs of the community itself – the need to become, which requires role models.

 I care not who it offends; here is the truth. David was eulogised sweet psalmist of Israel and not murderous adulterer not so much because of his repentant heart – religious people don’t care if God forgives you. They don’t. And they don’t because image is more valuable to them than character. Nevertheless, for the ancient nation of Israel to survive, family values were not as essential as a fiercely courageous and loyal spirit. And that explains King David, beloved of the people and beloved of God, but its hard to find a poorer model for a father and family man in all of the scriptures.

More contemporarily, for the less religiously inclined, why is the most insanely dysfunctional family in the entire history of the British realm most royally celebrated, and honoured with headship not only of  state but  church also … and even more ridiculously, often iconised as paragons of virtue? Or does it seem a little odd to you that the most popular version of the most holy book carries the name of a man with the most perverse lifestyle (judging by the anachronistic moral code some seek zealously to preserve or resuscitate)? Jimmy was a flaming homosexual. Shouldn’t it affect the brand, moral zealots, no?

These paradoxes only exist for those under a peculiar delusion as to what  matters most in life. Well, whatever informs your moral code and whoever  the persons be that you have  idealized, as long as they are human beings you will find scandalous behaviour.

The sanctimonious would like to exclude the precious saviour, but clearly, they are not reading the same King James version  I do. What could be more scandalous than Jesus’ arrest, conviction and execution? I assure you his mother (not that it mattered to her)  could not imagine.

And for those that claim he was innocent, was he? Have you forgotten the charge? Jesus was an insurrectionist. A January 6ther. He may have been very subtle about it, but the notion that the colonial powers had no reason to have him under suspicion and that it was only the Jewish political faction at the time, threatened by his leadership, that caused his demise is inaccurate. This man was absolutely subversive to Roman policy, as time would eventually tell. Not that it mattered,  but they were  well-advised to eliminate him.

But Jesus’ whole life was scandal-ridden.  There is simply no justification for a Prince of peace destroying property and whipping people, no matter what the provocation. Whipping people? Are you kidding me? Whipping ??

The scripture says Jesus learned obedience by the things he suffered. Well I assure you, so did I at age twelve when I tried to pattern the model of behaviour towards parents I saw from him in scripture. (My mother too had her own ideas of when whipping is appropriate.)

And of course, for holy men, there is no scandal like a good sex scandal and neither does Jesus disappoint here: from cavorting with women at wells and ministrations from prostitutes by day, and homosexual liaisons under cover of night … (it is not a requirement that a scandal be true, and it may surprise you what some very small-minded people can construe from Mark 14:51-52; so those Jackasses drooling over whatever concocted files that frivolous fairy, Hoover of all people kept on our King might just want to back-pedal.)

I’m not trying to be mean, but I do want some people to see themselves and it’s not that I don’t understand the predicament of being too insignificant to attract a scandal; because, you have to be important in the first place to have a scandal. Common behaviour is expected from common people. Only when the outstanding fall is their pandemonium. 

So, as a man by the grace of God still standing with an honourable name, (having survived several scandalous charges… and truthfully, not all of them were untrue, not that it matters), I’m deeply thankful for God’s daily mercies which are the only source of whatever good and honourable things are worthy of being celebrated. Trust me. Those foolish enough  to rake up established legacies in a vain bid to attract attention to themselves accomplish absolutely nothing; and they never will; and that is such a shame;  because, they had every potential to qualify one day for a scandal of their very own.