a parable

there once was man who had been appointed
by the consensus of his brothers
to fill the role as head servant to the king

he was immediately zealous about creating
an atmosphere in the kingdom which would
encourage people to enter into discussion
as to how they view the king and what that would mean
for living in the kingdom

his first decree was to state emphatically
that the king was kindly disposed toward everyone
and wished only to convey his generosity
even to those who deemed themselves inimical

the head servant was courageous enough to stand
in the chambers of the kingdom and declare the kings' wishes
even at the expense of being misunderstood
which he often was
even at the expense of arousing the dark tempers
of those who felt they knew as much or more as the head servant
and of these there were many
these were the distant cousins who had appropriated
there own relationship to the king
and did not seem to care if the
treasury held the ancient gems given from the time
when the king roamed his little corner of the world
handing out freedom to the most wretched of souls
and showing love to those who had been cast out
for falling short of the expectations of the day
the gems he had passed on
to the brotherhood of servants
and were in the mysterious vault
and available to anyone for viewing and consideration

at one point the head servant dared to proclaim
"the chair on which i sit is necessary for our discussion
the role i serve here is the most ancient role
and to disregard my position is to disregard something
essential to living under the benevolence of the king"

many people scoffed saying:
- the old coot is full of himself
we have read the edicts of the king
we know what the king expects of us
we are not fools that we must listen
to the rantings of an old man shouting in the wind

with this the old servant was in much dismay
for he was genuinely trying to find a way
that would be agreeable for all who claim to be serving the king
he said
yes there are the edicts of the king
but there are also the written and spoken testimonies
the well reasoned explanations
the gifts of beauty which have come forth in response -
and these too we must acknowledge
and the jewel of the king himself
in which he desires all of us share
the jewel we must all own together

the wise men of the kingdom
and many of those outside the kingdom
entered into great debate
as to the meaning of adhering to the principles of the king
when in fact the king had not been seen in ages
and was reported by some to be dead
these were the subjects
who said the old servant was simply keeping alive an
idea about who he thought the king was
" what difference does it make to follow the
head servant ?"
they said
we know enough to make up our own minds about the king
let the old servant speak to the walls
see if we care

some however had a keen interest in the words of the servant
some recognized that his boldness was indeed impressive
even if he was perceived to be in error
even if some said he might've chosen different words
he did not back down from his declaration

one night when the head servant was lying down to sleep
at the end of a long day it occured to him that
all through his life he was given to making statements
that people misunderstood
so why had he been made the head servant ?
the head servant should be the one everyone trusts
everyone must trust him to speak clearly for the good of all
he cannot be one who creates more division than is already there

as he slept he had a dream
in his dream a donkey standing on its hind legs
was dancing around the plaza of a town
braying and screeching and
leaving droppings everywhere he went
some people were clapping their hands
and picking up the massive droppings of the donkey
tossing them at one another
they were laughing and taunting one another
and the donkey just danced and danced

when he awoke the servant shook his head and wondered
what that could be about
he recalled how his grandfather spread the donkey droppings
on the straw which convered the vines in winter
and said it was the best nourishment for the vines

all day he was tormented by the dream
and decided to tell the dream to his detractors
so he called a meeting of all the noble servants
and told them his dream
they sat there dumbfounded
when he explained his grandfathers vinyard practices
they just smiled and nodded
most of them thinking -
the old guy has lost his mind
now he thinks it's all about donkey droppings

when he said that he was sure that the
donkey in his dream was the same donkey the king
loved to ride around his kingdom
the very one he rode to the famous banquet
people still tell of
they nodded even more skeptically
but not one appeared to understand

after some light repast
they all rose and went their separate ways
convinced that the old head servant had
made things worse
never would there be agreement
and all were left then to their own designs

they returned to their respective homes
and spoke ill of the old servant
the general advice to the people was:
stay away from donkey droppings