Sire! Thou art not a God.

With all the news about competing military parades - President Trump now requesting a military parade through Washington, it is worth a look at the history of such events. (Note: North Korea’s parade the day before the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea; President Trump being so impressed by the French parade down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées).

They all started with the ancient Roman “Triumph”. This was a parade through the streets of Rome, organised to honour the return of a victorious military general. This was a massive and tumultuous event with trumpeters, strange animals, and wagons laden with captured (looted) treasures from far off lands. The victorious general rode is a special chariot preceded by captured prisoners.

Often the general was dressed in purple robes and crowned with a laurel wreath. Also sometimes his face was apparently daubed in red – to signify his closeness to the Gods.

But always, standing at his shoulder was a slave, whose duty it was to frequently whisper in the general’s ear, “Sire, remember thou art mortal” or “Sire! Thou art not a God”.

This was in recognition of the fact that men are mortal and vain. Sometimes those in power forget this and proceed to contemplate, vain gloriously, their own grandeur and status, and that, to use modern parlance, they needed to be brought down a peg or two.

So the parades we see today are the modern equivalent of the ancient Roman "Triumph" - without (one hopes) captured loot and prisoners of war. But sadly lacking, in these modern spectacles, is the important role of that vital ingredient, reminding the modern leader that, "Sire! Thou art not a God".

 

Boat people (illegals) - we treat animals better than this.

Animals on the farm; animals in zoos; animal at home – all are considered with care for their welfare and well-being. The various Animal Welfare organizations see to this and have the force of law behind them. But humans who we consider as “inferior” we treat with no respect, no compassion and with no dignity. Why?

When someone is so diminished that they are no longer considered human what happens? Slaves know that they have some value (they were either purchased by or work for someone who gives them some idea of what they are worth because they produce something of value) – judicial prisoners know that they have recourse to a legal system and generally there is limit to their incarceration; refugees - “boat people” (illegals) - in the Australian context, have nothing.

These people are desperate. To have it indicated to them, in no uncertain fashion by the Australian Government, that they may as well give up hope of  any help, assistance or compassionate regard would be devastating. To be so diminished as to be considered only as counters on a game board to be pushed about from country to country is similar to an annihilation of any ideas they may hold of their worth as human beings.

Again, in the Australian context refugees, “boat people” (illegals) are neither criminals nor are they deemed to have a value – they appear to be “non-people” and the Government wants nothing to do with them.  They are moved “off shore” to desperately poor or to micro-countries that Australia can pay off to accept this Australian “detritus”. They are a nuisance to the Government and should just go away.

This is an abrogation of what is decent; an abrogation of what is right and is neither ethical nor moral and is doing the image of Australia much harm. It is a fact – almost a “Law” that for every cause there is an effect. This cannot be codified, it cannot be quantified or qualified and there is no measure to gauge what the effect may be. But of a certainty there will be an effect and it may not be what anyone expects.

Always – repeat ALWAYS – treat people the way you would like to be treated. There is no other viable option. To act or behave in any other manner is to diminish oneself and a belief in the humanity we are all party to.