But Brutus... Brutus is an Honorable Man...

"But Brutus... Brutus is an Honorable Man... "

And so said Shakespeare, with an unparalleled tone of sarcasm that has echoed through the ages.  His words had an incredible effect on what societies thought of their leaders, what workers thought of their masters, and what the laymen thought of their priests.

But what if Shakepeare lived today?  What would he say?  "But George W. Bush...He was a man who never lied...especially on the matter of WMDs" or "Laloo Prasad, he was a man who did not have a single sticky finger on him" or  "Ted Haggard...Ted was a man who showed complete devotion to his wife and never had any extramarital relationships...especially with homosexual prostitutes."

So why this hypocrisy? Why do so many of our leaders live double lives? Why do they fail to hold themselves up to the same benchmarks that they expect for us? Perhaps it is because we're all shaded and colored.

No.  Wrong Idea.

We're not all "I'm Blue...dah buh dee, dah buh daa".  No what, I mean is that perhaps,  we are all shades of gray with very few black and white extremes amongst us.

But that isn't the way the world is portrayed by the News, by our faiths, by our cultures, by our politicians, and most assuredly, not by Disney!  Our leaders cry foul from their pulpits, spitting vitriol against the Hitlers of our generation. For them the world consists of simply two categories.  The category of Stalin, Bin Ladin, the Unibomber, and those who switch lanes without putting on their turn signals.  And on the end you had Gandhi, Lincoln, and Bambi's mom.  It was clearly black-and-white. There were no room for zebras.  Even though...most of us were...

And do you blame them?  We all walk through life as if we still have quarterly evaluations done for us.  But no longer are our teachers giving us "A's", "B's", and "F's".  It's our fellow workers, our families, and the guy who yelled at us when we ran a yellow light downtown.  And when you're dealing with societal acceptance, life is pretty much black-and-white.  You do as what society expects of you.  Or you don't.  So can you blame Ted Haggard, George W. Bush, or Lalloo Prasad?  When the forum you preach to condemns homosexuality, how do you come out as a gay man?  When your nation demands blood, retribution, and revenge for September 11th, how do you carry the white flag?  These men never acted on their own, but they acted as was expected of them by society.

So is there any saving grace for mankind?  I used to ask my father this question when I was younger. If it is not enough to be "Good in the eyes of society, in whose eyes are we seeking approval?"  It was then that my father told me the story of Kannappan.

Kannappan's life was no different from that of many Native American tribes.  He was a hunter and gatherer who survived off of the wealth of the forest.  It was in this same forest, one day, while hunting, that Kannappan came across a shrine for Shiva.   The shrine consisted of an an-iconic symbol of Shiva, a "lingam".

This lingam wasn't any ordinary lingam, however.  To the local villagers and townsfolk, it was an extremely sacred site.  And its sanctity was consecrated by the handsome, young priest who maintained the shrine.  Each day, he would say his prayers, decorate the shrine exquisitely with flowers and fruits, and sing songs with his sweet voice.  It was said that his voice would be like nectar to the ears.  People would drop their work and come simply to enjoy the celebration of his devotion.

But Kannappan knew nothing of this priest.  Still, he was moved by the deity in the shrine and decided to pay his respects.  He cut open his finest kill and offered its raw meat to the deity.  As if to feed the deity, he tore chunks of raw meat, dripping with blood and smeared the shrine.  He shared in the consumption, until he realized his thirst.  Horrified at the thought that perhaps the deity also experienced the same thirst, he hurried to the river and filled his mouth with water, and returned to the temple, spitting his saliva and the river water all over the shrine and the altar. Pleased with his work, he began to smile and laugh...I would imagine, probably akin to the laugh of the Wicked Witch of the West.

And it must have been that terrible.  Because the Villagers, overcome with the smell from the shrine, shut their doors, and held their breath.  Dogs howled, Cats fled, and even the mice hid in fear from the sound of that horrible laugh.

This wasn't Count Chocula laughing, and no wonder.  There wasn't anything really cute to count: "Vone disgusting, hideous, stench of a man who has not bathed in a month...ah ah ah ah.....Two..."

And so, the question was asked of me.  Who was the greater devotee?  As a story-listener, who prefers the "Beast" to the "Prince"....who always sides with the underdog...I knew Kannappan was going to be seen as the best devotee.  But how true is that in life?    When did the last pro-choice woman make it to be anchor at Fox News?  When did the last gay man find himself as Chancellor at Bob Jones University?  When did we EVER cut the external crap and appearances for a person, and decide by intentions and personality alone?

Kannappan proved his faith, in the end.  One day while worshiping, he noticed that the shrine had two real eyes embedded in them that seemed to rotate and blink as if real.  He was astonished and amazed to see, what he believed to be, the very eyes of God.  However, to his horror, from the socket of one of the eyes, he saw blood drip slowly.

As you probably already realized from the image to the left, he was moved by his devotion, and he used an arrow to sever his own eyeball and replace the bleeding one in the icon.  He quickly realized that the other eye was bleeding as well.  In fear, that during his blinded state, he would no longer be able to replace the eye, he covered the eye with his foot....an act that would have otherwise been considered heresy...and he began to claw his other eye out.  At that moment, angels supposedly descended, restored his sight and took him to heaven.  And as can be expected, the young, handsome priest had already failed this test of faith.  The colors of the true devotee had been shown.

It is easy for the theist to say, hold yourself to God's standard over man's....but what if there is no God?  As a rational, intelligent, person, I have to recognize that possibility...even though I am a theist.  But at the same time, God or no God regardless, there is a higher standard.  Buddha, Christ, Krishna, Gandhi, MLK, Mother Teresa...people famous and unknown...all held themselves to a bar that is above what even society expects of us.  And in their times, some of their messages were as hideous to the listener as the laugh of Kannappan.  But they decided to be greater than Ted Haggard, Pradad, Bush, and even Brutus. And for that sake, they attained an eternity of satisfaction and respect.  So choose wisely...We may be gray, but we can tell true white from true black.