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| Not 'the eye of a needle' but 'Fat Man's Agony' - a narrow gate to Heaven |
I'm all for humility (yes, really, I am) but I also believe that the rich are most worthy of our succour and prayers.
Our Lord, when He walked the earth, was usually to be found in the company of those who had it all in terms of wealth, property or position (the harlots were there at the behest of their rich hosts remember, I don't include them in this).
The tax collectors, the landlords, the Pharisees and wheeler dealers.
If Paul Raymond (Raymond's Revue Bar) had been alive in 30 AD, Our Lord would have joined him for a meal.
And if Ozzy Osbourne, Donald Trump, Hugh Hefner (to name but a few) were throwing a heavy metal, cocaine and heroin get together in downtown Nazareth, (not that any of those people take or use drugs, I'm sure) - Our Lord would have made a point of attending - why look for a doctor among the healthy?
The point is that the poor have it made.
Their burden is poverty and it's an oystercard to destination Pearly Gates, via a few stops en route.
The rich however, still have the problem of squeezing through the eye of a needle.
Their temporal existence may appear all fast cars and loose women but they are on the fast track to Hades on the Handcart line.
They deserve our sympathy and our prayers; they have an impossible task ahead of them.
What have they got to look forward to?
What have they done to merit life eternal?
We all die in the same manner; we all enter the coffin, rich and poor alike, wrapped in a plastic zip up bag.
Mortality levels all.
But the roadsweeper, the lavatory attendant and the beggar have the advantage; they have the ladder in front of them.
In fact, they are half way up.
And when they die they know that, at last, they will not only achieve parity of esteem with the Duke of Westminster and the Rockerfellers but they will have gone some way to relieving the pains of Purgatory by their travails on earth.
So, maybe, rich men and women should be moved up the priority list a little, we are not an exclusive club, after all.
Very well presented. Thank you for opening my eyes to something that should have been obvious, but wasn't.
ReplyDeleteThank you Aged P.
ReplyDeleteAged P -- another Jeeves and Wooster devotee'! Hooray!
ReplyDeleteBut Richard, I have to draw the line at Ozzy Osbourne. Ich.
Very well put
ReplyDeleteRich and poor all enter and leave the world the same way
"Man who is born of woman has but a short time to live"
says the Book of Job
however we have a certain Rich lady here in Australia-Gina Reinhardt-who thinks that her shroud will have pockets.
Gervase! Hooray for you and Evelyn Waugh!
ReplyDeleteI really, really want to share a Bird-and-Baby pub evening with all of you.
Very well done.
ReplyDeleteI recently heard that the expression of "camel through the eye of a needle" was ancient jargon for a fully laden camel going through the main gate of a city. Evidently, the city gate was commonly called "the eye of the needle" possibly because of it's shape, and camels used in commerce were loaded up with as much as they could carry. Just a bigger version of your picture. I heard this from a man I met at Mass who said he was studying ancient Hebrew and Aramaic so I have no firm reference that I can use to verify the story, it just came to mind reading your post.
Thank you Gervase, I like the idea of a shroud with pockets.
ReplyDeleteMack, I have enjoyed a pint of ale in The Eagle and Child, very evocative. I do not think that it can have changed much in the past 80 years or so.
Anon, thank you, you are right.
Please explicitly define rich?
ReplyDeletePlease include salary, benefits, etc...
Thanks!