Month: March 2020

There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to the baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound and he found that he was not. This angered him and he took the farmer to court. The judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure. The farmer replied, your Honor, I am primitive. I don’t have a proper measure, but I do have a scale.” The judge asked, “Then how do you weigh the butter?” The farmer replied “Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the baker.”

The baker was weighed in the balances and found wanting. His loaf of bread was short-weighted. It did not weigh the pound that the baker claimed that it did. It was only when the baker decided to sue the farmer that his deception was discovered.

I remember a song that came out in 1967. It was sung by Ed Ames. The song is “Who Will Answer.”

It was originally written in Spanish by Luis Eduardo Aute, it was adapted into an English-language version with new lyrics by songwriter Sheila Davis.

From the canyons of the mind
We wander on and stumble blindly
Through the often tangled maze
Of starless nights and sunless days
While asking for some kind of clue
Or road to lead us to the truth
But who will answer?. . . .

Is our hope in walnut shells
Worn ’round the neck with temple bells
Or deep within some cloistered walls
Where hooded figures pray in halls?
Or crumbled books on dusty shelves
Or in our stars, or in ourselves
Who will answer?

If the soul is darkened
By a fear it cannot name
If the mind is baffled
When the rules don’t fit the game
Who will answer? Who will answer? Who will answer?

The song seems so appropriate because we find ourselves facing a pandemic of Covid-19. The life and death statistics are staggering. The economics are devastating. We all have multiple questions. Where are we going to find answers?

DR. Anthony S. Fauci appears to be one of the experts that can be trusted to explain the circumstances and tell the truth. At time he is at odds with the President. At times it appears that the President is operating from a faulty set of scales. This is not a bread or butter issue; it is a life and death issue that affects us all.

We learn to be patient, to stay in and stay well, or as well as we can be.

Politicians are like the Pied Piper in the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin. The politician pipes the tune and encourages people to follow him or her. If you look up the story on the Internet you will find the details of the encounter of the piper with the citizens of Hamlin.

“For those unfamiliar with the tale, it is set in 1284 in the town of Hamelin, Lower Saxony, Germany. This town was facing a rat infestation, and a piper, dressed in a coat of many coloured, bright cloth, appeared. This piper promised to get rid of the rats in return for a payment, to which the townspeople agreed too. Although the piper got rid of the rats by leading them away with his music, the people of Hamelin reneged on their promise. The furious piper left, vowing revenge. On the 26th of July of that same year, the piper returned and led the children away, never to be seen again, just as he did the rats. Nevertheless, one or three children were left behind, depending on which version is being told. One of these children was lame, and could not keep up, another was deaf and could not hear the music, while the third one was blind and could not see where he was going.”

We listen to the piper and follow the tune. Some tunes are positive and very helpful and lead to the development of the great society with health care and higher minimum wage, greater opportunities for personal development and society growth. Some tunes prove to be negative and harmful. The music is sweet and says what people want to hear or propose legislation that people desire.

Sometimes it is very hard to sell the difference in the music, but there are those who would help us understand the dissonance. There was an article in Christianity Today that offered some insight to help us differentiate.

“Trump Should Be Removed from Office: It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was. By Mark Galli, Editor, Christianity Today, December 19, 2019

“To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?”

Mr. Galli’s observation does not seem to make any difference. President Trump has been called, a “god,” a “savior,” Evangelicals follow him. He is the pied piper of Washington. It is vital to remember the story of what happened to the children of Hamlin. It could happen here.

When, lo! as they reached the mountain-side,
A wondrous portal opened wide,
As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed;
And the Piper advanced and the children followed,
And when all were in to the very last,
The door in the mountain-side shut fast

Robert Browning, The Pied Piper of Hamelin: A Child’s Story