Aesop sheds light on contemporary conflicts...yes?

 The fundies, of the religious right, a vociferous, adamantine-willed, superfluously funded branch of quasi-Christianity, have, unconsciously perhaps, taken on the mantle of Aesop’s Oak Tree, in what has become an all-out, fight-to-the-death war against so many enemies, it is almost impossible to count.

Among their hated enemies are those ‘woke’ apostates, characterized by their commitment to a trinity of values, (another Christian symbolic tradition) D(iversity), E(quity), I(nclusion), high on the target list of the Oak’s resolute determination to outlast, outshine and to eclipse them into the dust of history.

Also, on their list of hated and evil opponents, are the immigrants, refugees, and desperate rapists, drug-lords and ‘shitty’ people seeking escape from terror, often starvation and incarceration. The sturdy, stately, imperial and regal OAK will stand to defend the nation from these hated infidels, through strong branches of law enforcement, guns, batons, gas cannisters,  and an army of heavily recruited, yet minimally trained goon-wannabe-warriors and, will continually promise to ‘make the nation safe from evil.

Other malignant malefactors on their  list of hated enemies are those other nations whose greed, and narcissism and opportunism and trickery have defrauded the nation of billions of dollars in trade deficits, currency manipulation, and negotiating deceits over decades, perhaps even centuries, generating a situation so apocalyptic that only an all-out trade-war will awaken these minion nations to the unyielding towering timbre of the oak’s spine, its ethical and moral superiority and its historic status among the creatures of the forest.

And then, add to the growing list of hated enemies, the drug-lords and their political camouflages, the presidents and potentates who permit their illicit and lucrative trade to satiate the insatiable appetite of the OAK’s own nationals for more and more of the hated and illicit and lethal doses of chemicals into whose allure and somnambulant daze millions of nationals slump daily, hourly, while the drug-lords’ boats are bombed by the mighty power of the GREAT OAK—determined and steadfast as it is to block, defer, deter and defeat all perceived enemies, from its lofty perch as the GREAT OAK, towering over the forest.

From its towering, and all-knowing position, the Great OAK has also found a cluster of new and cancerous enemies, among them the universities which support those three detested initials, (DEI), the law firms many of which have succumbed to the turbulent and fiscally threatening winds of the GREAT OAK, and also, now the Vatican, supposedly the valiant, supremely ethical, moral, compassionate and spiritual guide and mentor of millions, (or is that billions?). Holding true to its bold steadfast, high-and-mighty self-conceived brilliance and superiority, the GREAT OAK is now warning the Vatican to ‘be careful’ whenever it speaks about theology, the heart-and-soul of its tradition, history, theology and spiritual inspiration for centuries.

There is also another ‘declared, venomous and dangerous enemy of the GREAT OAK, the hated and detested Persians, especially given their claimed right to ‘enrich uranium’ and their determination to eliminate the state of Israel, another of the great, steadfast, invincible and indestructible trees, the Hickory, known for its high density and durability and wind resistance. Given the intimate and some might say collusive and conspiratorial relationship between the Hickory and the OAK, this invincible, indomitable, and religious/historic symbiotic relationship, is determined to demonstrate, no prove beyond a doubt, that their collective, highly enriched, scientifically superior, surveillance and defensive dome, will win-the-day over all enemy combatants….and those promises fill the airwaves across the skies and oceans and continents every hour and every day.

Blind, however, to the imaginative creativity, and determined survivability of each and everyone of these enemies, each of which have openly, brazenly and proudly adopted the age-old mantra and model of Aesop, that of the Reed. As Aesop prophesied, long ago, apparently without the benefit of the eyes, ears, minds and speculations of the OAK and the HICKORY, especially when the winds blew at the behest of the OAK and the HICKORY, the initiators of all the conflicts, The OAK  stood proudly upright with their hundred arms uplifted to the sky,. But the Reeds bowed low in the wind and sang a sad and mournful song.

‘You have reason to  complain,’ said the Oak. ‘The slightest breeze that ruffles the surface of the water makes you bow your heads, while I, the mighty OAK (and my friend the Hickory) stand upright and firm before the howling tempest.’

‘Do not worry about us,’ replied the Reeds. The winds do not harm us. We bow before them and so we do not break. You in all your pride and strength, have so far resisted their blows. But the end is coming.’

As the Reeds spoke a great hurricane rushed out of the north. The OAK (and Hickory) stood proudly and fought against the storm, while the yielding Reeds bowed low. The wind redoubled in fury, and all at once the great tree(s) fell, torn up by the roots, and lay among the pitying Reeds. (From The Oak and the Reeds,  The Aesop for Children, from https://read.gov

The children know that it is the hubris and the deaf-ear, the closed mind and the adamantine will of the OAK (and the Hickory, for our purposes) that are their undoing. They also know that the Reeds will continue to bend, and sway, and bend and sway, in even the most turbulent and destructive of storms, given their ‘groundedness and their humility, and their adaptability, and their flexibility and their determination to out-last all of the many storms, especially those initiated at the hubristic and self-righteous and blinded-by-their-own invincibility OAKs (and Hickories).

And while the pundits parse the details of each of the various ‘encounters’ of the OAKs and the REEDs, as if they were all individual, separate and isolated narratives, the children will, if and when asked, raise their hands to mention that, just perhaps the pundits, and the scribes, the historians and the political philosophers consider each enemy and each encounter a matter of significance, the children will remind their mentors that, when all is said and done, it is and will always be the REEDs that survive.

Whether it is a social/cultural/racial/ethical/moral program for schools, colleges and universities, that is founded on principles of social justice, Christian theology and constitutional principles,

OR a flood of displaced, frightened, even terrified, starving and desperate men, women and children, including infants on their parents back or harnessed to their chests, all of them escaping forces of hate, greed, political oppression, war, drought, poverty, disease, homelessness, unemployment, access to clean water, air and land, and access to a legitimate education….again these ‘reeds’ will invariably continue to bend, and to flow in the ebb-and-flow of various environmental, political, military and illicit powers’ decisions and negligence. And no military, quasi-legal, paramilitary, or even electrified and barbed-wire fences will ever completely stop their marches to whatever their perception of a new life might be.

OR the drug-lords and their political cover and accomplices, who seek to peddle their illicit, lethal and highly demanded drugs into the nation with the insatiable appetite, need and even addiction to and for their products will never be stopped by a few bombs in the Caribbean, or even by the abduction of a nation’s leader, allegedly complicit in the conspiracy…and the Reeds of the desperate men, women and children, primarily victims of a society whose interest in and compassion for, and empathy for the bottom 1% of the people, whose numbers are growing daily, and whose desperation is only enhancing the hubris and the blindness of the OAKs in power….will far outlast whatever turbulent storms are invoked to ‘end the war on drugs.’

As for the universities, and the law firms, some of which have capitulated to the OAK already, while others remain as sycophantic eunuchs to their illicit demands, the strength of the REED-like organizations and firms will outlast the turbulence of the OAK’s venom.

As for the Vatican, itself perceived as an OAK by many religionists, as well as political actors, it too is more like the REED in its historic, theologically-founded, and liturgically enshrined resilience, humility and promise of the hope of the gospel can and will invariably remain as a shining beacon of hope, long after the thundering hubristic OAKs and Hickories have broken and fallen.

And then there is The Persians, who, after many protracted conflicts with the proud OAK of American hegemony, and after having survived and grown stronger in and through those conflicts, (even while allegedly disposing through scandalous murders of thousands of protestors to their own regime), will continue to bend and blow in the face of negotiating positions of the great OAK that say one thing one day and its opposite the next day, knowing that in the long run, their adaptability, flexibility and resilience bred into their bending and their grounding…..and they will outlast their OAK and Hickory enemies.

As a Post note:

Given Henry Kissinger’s knowledgeable perception of the Chinese, it would seem that, centuries ago, the Chinese adopted the REED position of out-waiting, bending, bowing, and offering tempting ‘dishes’ to their western counterparts if and when they came attempting to make deals….the patience, and the awareness of the resilience of bending, without breaking, of humility with hubris, of speaking softly without braggadocio,….the natural way of the REED, will in the end hold the final sway and the final say.

One has to wonder if and when the Americans will pick up a copy of Aesop’s Tales, read them and reflect!

There are certainly some political and philosophical and even theological and religious elements to these conflicts. And there is also an obvious literary, fable-lighted narrative that cannot be ignored or denied.