Wednesday, October 02, 2013

The Parable of the Insistent Treasurer

There was once a treasurer, who had the key to the city's treasury.  On the day that he was supposed to unlock the treasury to pay all the workers in the city and the people that the city owed, he decided to take a stand.

You see, the mayor of the city had convinced the leaders of the city to require everyone to get a doctor. Some people said, "I already have a doctor, but now I'll have to pay more to help others who don't." Some said, "Why should I have to get a doctor when I don't need one right now?"  Others said, "This new rule is too complicated and will actually make things worse."  Of course many also saw it as a wonderful thing and believed that almost everyone in the city would now actually have a doctor.

Nevertheless, the law passed and despite repeated attempts by the treasurer to defeat the new rule, he was foiled at every turn. He took it to the judge but the judge did not stop it.  He tried to get a new mayor, warning the people they would have no other chance to change the rule. But the people re-elected the same mayor as before.  Most of the city accepted that the new rule was going to happen, even those who had opposed it.

But the treasurer was re-elected too, and on the day that he was supposed to unlock the treasury he decided to take one last stand.  "I will not unlock the treasury to pay the city's bills unless the mayor and other city leaders will stop this new rule or at least delay it until I can think of another way to destroy it. Unless they will change or at least delay, then the workers in the city will go without pay and we will not be able to pay the other cities from which we have borrowed. A sizable minority of the people in the city agree with me, and we will take our stand on principle because the leaders and majority of the city are wrong."

I don't know how the story ends.  How do you think it ends?

4 comments:

Susan Moore said...

Who knows? But it sure seems to be almost the perfect time for his return, doesn't it? You know who I mean, right? Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many more, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them...(and made fools out of all of us).
Susan

Peter Kirby said...

If I know anything about a parable like this, the guy with the most hubris loses his head or, at least, his job. :)

::athada:: said...

The treasurer probably doesn't vaccinate his children either, or else seeks vaccines on the black (free!) market.

::athada:: said...

And now that the CDC will be unable to monitor the spread of the flu, Darwinian natural selection (let's call it "nature's free market") will sort out the fit and unfit humans more quickly.