Storytelling is as old as man. As the ancients sat about the fire warming their hands they warmed their minds with stories of long passed heroes. In the courts of kings there would be many storytellers each in a designed location making it possible for people to move from storyteller to storyteller depending upon their interest. I thought of this the other evening when I tired of a television program and changed the channel to something I found more interesting.
Just as there were court jesters we have comedians. They had those who chronicled their heritage and we have the History Channel. The comparisons can continue on. They even had weather prophets. Not much has changed: just the medium. Perhaps one thing has changed. We have few heroes left. One by one scholars have unveiled the moral defects of past greats leaving us with halls of shame instead of fame.
Perhaps the fault is within us all. If the greats were not perfect maybe I can sooth myself concerning my faults. After all is it not easier to lower someone to my level instead my disciplining myself to rise to theirs? So the world is left with mediocrity and we are all the poorer for every generation needs heroes to inspire it’s youth to be more tomorrow than they are today.
Is it so difficult for us to bear perfect people? “Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.”
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 13, 2002
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