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Musings on the Rag Trade
Jonathan predominantly wore black. It suited his image. He drank heavily
and violently, haunting the working men’s pubs around Oxford. As
a student of French literary ideas, he fashioned poses denying the possibility
of transcendence. Jonathan was a master of cynicism: disproving the existence
of all but power, expressed inevitably through politics. During his studies
he was lavishly provided for by Her Majesty’s Government.
But then, Jonathan married a plump princess from Asia … and Jonathan
the socialist became Jonathan the millionaire. His wife’s family
is very rich. They make and export brightly colored clothing.
Another Jonathan received a brightly colored coat. That coat sent envy
into his family and consequently, he was sold into slavery. From a pit,
to Potiphar’s house, to prison, he was raised from slavery to Pharaoh’s
court. Through a combination of faithful humility and brilliance, he came
to rule all of Egypt. This Jonathan’s story is a tale of transcendence
trumping mortal adversity. He never succumbed to cynicism. Millennia later,
Joseph’s story is still told.
Adversity cannot triumph over hope. Cynicism is too often a dark mask,
denying the universal desire for movement toward the light. The intractability
of darkness and suffering is never utterly hopeless. Every confinement
in the pit is confinement for a reason. Theories and ideas are as much
enslavers of men’s minds as those who traffic in human flesh. We
discern the purposes of pits from the completion of lives reconsidered.
Wilde noted that while we are all in the gutter -- despite our clothes
-- some of us are looking at the stars.
James Clark
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(c) 2002 Millennium Relief & Development Services, vol. 2 no. 19
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