Looking at photos of our new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, sauntering along in Toronto’s pride parade, reminded me of Hans Christian Andersen’s short story, “The Emperor’s new Clothes”. My grade two teacher read the tale aloud to the class and I felt immense shame for the emperor strutting his way through the village.
In the story, two villainous swindlers arrive in the kingdom and convince the vain emperor they can weave intricately patterned clothing. The catch? The gorgeous outfits become invisible to those not fit for their jobs or not wise. The situation presents a conundrum. How can the esteemed officials or the emperor himself say they cannot see the outfits without jeopardizing their positions? To cover their self-doubt, they decide collectively to present the emperor in his fabulous new clothes the next day in the village parade.
The villagers ooh and aah over the emperor’s garments until a small child pipes up to say,
“But he doesn’t have anything on!”
“… listen to the voice of the innocent,” says the father.
I’m not a little child or an innocent, but even I can see the Prime Minister parades naked. Sadly, he left home without putting on his wisdom, discretion, integrity, impartiality …
“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding.” Proverbs 3:13
Have yourself a super week!