THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER

 "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows" ~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest

Since then, the line as written by Shakespeare has gone on to include poverty, necessity and of course now, the oft quoted, politics makes for strange bedfellows. But more on that later.

For some strange Utopian reason if you will, I had liked to believe that there was still this thing called decency in the world; a sense of fair play, keeping one’s word and a basic moral compass that ruled, rules men and women. These past few years have proven just the opposite though.

One cannot read the news these days, whether it be the print or online, without doing a double take. Did someone actually say that? Did they write that? Do that? There seems to be new, or should it be low, levels of crassness that the human species seem to aspiring to every single day. Aspiring is a wrong word you might say but I do not see any other way to prove otherwise. And  unfortunately, the more obnoxious, vile or appalling the garbage that spills out in a day, the more traction it gets and attracts, piling, escalating and rising in its putridity.

So why are people doing the things they are doing? Like we say back home, sisnu na pugeko. Loosely translated, it refers to a form of spare the rod, spoil the child. Only in this case, the rod in question is a stinging nettle that grows wild on the hilly slopes of home. Having seen, although thankfully not being the recipient of one myself, I can guarantee its effectiveness in dissuading anyone from any further acts of mischief whatsoever.

But in all seriousness, whatever the cause may be, oft times foolish, ill-guided and in many cases, demented, people now find it easier to vent out their frustrations, misconceptions and misguided beliefs, with horrendous consequences as we have seen, tragically, just a few days ago.
However they might want to represent or justify it, the truth remains and that is, that all these actions point to that one factor every single time. Their thirty pieces of silver.

Judas Iscariot believed that the cause he signed up for was going off the beaten track and that in order to rectify and correct this course, he was doing the right thing, by giving up Jesus. There might have been a moment when he truly believed that what he was doing what was right and good and just for the cause. It did not end at though. Because for all his justifications and his reasons, he still got something out of it. Coins. All thirty of them.

Today it is no different. Every one gets his. Silver. Only its displayed in real time. And then some more. Repeated in vicious cycles over and over again.

Which is why I laud the Prime Minister of New Zealand for her stand. More and even more so now. Deny them their silver. Give them no time, no coverage, no importance. Nothing.
For in the end, they are that. Just nothing.

There should be no validation for evil. Not in any form or shape. Where there is no oxygen, there is no fire. When there is no fire, there can be no further fuelling. No thirty pieces of silver.

And yes, coming back to politics. That word itself has many meanings and not surprisingly enough, negative as well, one being “acting for political or personal gain rather than from principle” which in the present day seems to be the norm rather than the exception.

The upcoming elections with less than a month away now before voting begins and we are already seeing the strangest bedfellows aligning themselves in what can best be described, for want of a better word, bizarre alliances. Verbal contortions that would place them in the Olympic hall of fame, all the while claiming the ‘interests of the people’, mouthing platitudes that, and I am quoting Shakespeare again, ‘signify nothing’.

Spare us the horse hooey please and just mean it like it is. I’m doing it for the money, thank you very much. My thirty pieces of silver, in whatever coinage if you please. And be done with it.

Lent is upon us and soon Easter. My red lilies are already in full bloom. A first, considering that they almost always only bloom just during the Passion Week. Perhaps it is a harbinger of the things to come. Perhaps it is just a sign of the climate change. (Climate change, what’s that eh?)

Perhaps. But for now I will enjoy my lilies. And hope. Hope for a better world. And oh yes, we are not going to stop the wheel, we are going to break it.


That the wheel
May turn
And forever
Be still..

       ~ T S Eliot