In 25 years as a Catholic lay missionary, I spent 2 incredible years in India. There are more stories from there than I can share in one short article, but I’ll be sharing them in future Dust Devils offerings.
This is about an extraordinarily big rat we trapped in a cage. It was 1989. I was sent to our men’s community in Mumbai with Fr Thomas. We were assigned to sleep on floor mats up in the attic. One night I got bit on the toe. No blood, but it startled me! I didn’t see the culprit, though we searched that attic from one end to the other.
Next night – got bit on the toe again. But this time I saw him. A big rat scampering down the attic ladder. Cyril, the local Director of our men’s community, put a “rat cage” at the bottom of the ladder the next night after we went up to bed. God’s honest truth, I got bit on the toe for the third night in a row!
I saw that rat fly down the ladder and heard the door of the cage slam shut. The other men woke up to see the rat. He was BIG! Hunkered down in the corner, he thought he was invisible. When Cyril put an ice pick anywhere near that rat, it squealed loudly, rose up and bit and clawed like a madman. When Cyril backed away, Mr. Rat went to the corner and became “invisible” again!
2 or 3 approaches – same result. Screech – rise up – attack. Next day, we let Mr. Rat go in the hills, far from our home. Never got bit again.
So, what’s my point? How does my rat tie into the current political situation? The government is finally being purged of its gross financial obesity. The graft and corruption of a massive federal bureaucracy (ALL unelected), are being laid bare to the people – WE THE PEOPLE! 100’S of billions of dollars, OUR MONEY, just in the last 10 years, have gone down that nasty rat hole never to be seen again.
I read recently, “Investigate fraud seriously and relentlessly. Those who scream first and loudest: ‘STOP. You can’t DO this! … (add your profanity here) are going to be the very fraudsters you are looking to publicly expose.”
Those in Congress, from both parties, who eat at that trough, are now screaming bloody murder as they are being exposed. They come to Congress with nothing and leave decades later as multi-millionaires.
To be fair, the self-righteous yelling, threatening, fist pumping and foul language is coming from those with the D after their names. They are calling for violence and chaos the more they are exposed. Many with the R after their names, are also guilty of doing absolutely nothing to correct the course of our bureaucratic Titanic. They are running through all the rooms of the passengers (citizens) rifling through everything to see what they can take before we run head-on into that iceberg.
And that my friends, led me to remember my rat, screeching and clawing, fighting madly when he felt threatened. It was unnerving to see and hear that rat. But we ignored his crazy behavior and sent him into exile, far from home.
And so it must be with politicians. They should not be in Washington 20, 30, even 50 plus years, getting fat on our money, then screaming, raving, and threatening when they are exposed openly to all of us – WE THE PEOPLE! Ignore the rats and drain the swamp. Return governance to the people of this great Democratic Republic.
Let us pray for our country daily, for our President and Vice-President, their Cabinet members and all our members of Congress, that they become more faithful stewards of our money, our safety – in a word, our country. Viva Cristo Rey!