“Believe me, you never know the best about men till you know the worst about them. It does not dispose of their strange human souls to know that they were exhibited to the world as impossibly impeccable wax works, who never looked after a woman or knew the meaning of a bribe.
”Even in a palace, life can be lived well; and even in a Parliament, life can be lived with occasional efforts to live it well. I tell you it is as true of these rich fools and rascals as it is true of every poor footpad and pickpocket; that only God knows how good they have tried to be. God alone knows what the conscience can survive, or how a man who has lost his honor will still try to save his soul.”
From “The Man Who Knew Too Much” by G. K. Chesterton
Here Chesterton is not thinking of ‘looking after’ in the modern sense of caring for a woman, but referring to Matthew 5:28 in the King James Bible: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
This passage comes near the climax of the story of The Man Who Knew Too Much, when some of the most powerful men in Britain had been revealed to be traitors, and subject to an unnamed invader. ‘Even in a Parliament, life can be lived with occasional efforts to live it well.’
None of our politicians are perfect, but as the election beckons for our country and our constituency, let us pray that we may base our personal choices on the common good, and that our new Parliament may be a gathering of loyal and ‘right honourable members’, true servants of the people.
agnellusmirror 