The Family Chauffeur

Post 343

As a last Post to complete the related subject of my small community likeness to our national problem that is clearly explained by the Grand Tapestry, I offer the following sum.

Rather than apply the law and legally recall (i.e. impeach) a few of the belligerently willful Assembly members for both violation of the law, and failure to remain within the tenor of their commission, our small resolving force of citizens, against my solitary recommendations, chose instead to make an appeal by petition to get the present Assembly to comply with our wishes, withdraw the Minor Offense Ordinance they just passed unlawfully, and follow the lawful process to pass it.
After submitting the petition with a stunning 652 signatures, (about 75% of the voting population), the Assembly very reluctantly reconsidered their vote and unanimously voted to send it back to the Commissions originally established to review it, before the Assembly votes on it again.
Not a single Assembly member expressed a changed heart; those that voted against it before were still against the way it was passed, and those that voted on it before openly stated that they still feel the ordinance is good, they legally did the right thing, the public is ignorant, and they only reconsidered their vote because the public by mass “bullied” them to do so.

So, after remaining even more deeply entrenched in their seats than before, and, for the time being safe by complying to the latest request of the population, the Assembly also commissioned a Special Commission of seven that would consist of both Assemblymen and Citizens to review the ordinance for acceptability.
The following is a short parable that explains just what we have now:
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The Family Chauffeur
There once was a well-established family that hired a family chauffeur for the kids. They created and signed a simple contract and turned over the keys of the family car. The duties were simple; maintain the car, be available at all regular hours to take the family where they spontaneously desired, and follow the family’s written schedule taking the members wherever they were need to go; such as soccer practice, music lessons, school, work, etc. It was a great relationship and the family learned to love the chauffeur as a valuable member.
Over the next few years the stoic family chauffeur saw many interesting interactions with various family members, some good and some bad. There was a regular and ongoing squabble among the children, and whenever two or more members asked the chauffeur to drive them, there was always an argument as to where that should be. If one asked to be taken to the mall, the other would declare a hatred for the mall. If one requested the skating rink, the other wanted the beach in the opposite direction. Even when the chauffeur was determined to take the children to school-- per the family written schedule-- the children demanded to be taken to the park instead.
When appealing to the parents for help or ideas, Mrs. State simply showed the chauffeur the contract, suggested some unique applications, and left the details up to the chauffeur to work out with the children. The chauffeur began to quietly see himself less as a chauffeur, and more like a nanny with rebellious children that needed to be managed. The children got less and less what they demanded and were more and more driven to where the chauffeur deemed was in their best interest. The children usually accepted this as the easiest way to resolve family contentions.

Somewhere along the way, the family children all climbed into the car for their familiar trip to school but the chauffeur decided that they would be better served in a different kind of educational establishment. The family car pulled up in front of a military academy. The children were confused. Then became scared. And finally, in a desperate attempt to avoid this change, started to think about the contract and proper roll of the chauffeur. Had any of them actually read the contract? Did any of them actually know the prescribed power that the chauffeur had been given? And finally; What could be done to change the new and dramatic reality of standing before this new institution of re-education called the Minor Offense Academy For Wayward Children?
In a very rare and unusual display of solidarity, all the family children were united in voice declaring to the chauffeur that it was his duty to take them to their regular school. He argued that he had observed their long undisciplined behavior, and as a wise adult he knew better than they did what was good for them. He declared; “I have been a part of this family a long time now, do you honestly think that I would do anything to harm this family?”
But, while still quite confused as to the reach of his authority, the scope of the actual contract, and the merits of a military school; the children knew instinctively that they were supposed to be taken to their regular school and so they unanimously appealed to the chauffeur to take them to their proper school per their desire, which they knew was somehow an obligatory part of the contract on many levels.
The smart chauffeur knew by their unified determination that if he did not comply they would go to their parents about his stubborn willfulness as well as his breach of contract, and things would get significantly ugly to the degree of risking his employment. He was, after all, just the chauffeur.

So, although he made it very clear that he felt the ignorant children belonged in a military school for their own good, he reluctantly drove them to the Home Rule School on their regular written schedule, per their demands.
The end?
Not hardly!
Rather than just hire a new responsive chauffeur, it has now become necessary for one of the older children to sit in the front seat anytime any of the children want to go anywhere, just to make sure the unresponsive chauffeur they retained drives them to the proper destination.
But the now entrenched chauffeur is not deterred. He knows that they will eventually get tired of this and he will ultimately get his way. Military school for the whole lot of them, and a bit of peace for himself!
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I now intend to bring all these many strings together and with them weave the fabric of the Grand Tapestry that explains all of Creation in a way that can be practically applied.
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