Posted by
peripheral on Tuesday, July 07, 2009 8:11:24 AM
From My Perspective - - -
Royalty always presents one with considerable intrigue and many more
questions than there are answers. A case in point is King Ludwig II of
Bavaria. It was said, “King Ludwig II (1845-86) lived a mysterious life
and died young, tragically and misunderstood. He loved beauty in all
its forms, especially, nature, art and music. Ludwig, a pacifist, was
forced to declare war on Prussia and soon after became a recluse in his
dream world and used the royal fortune to build one castle after
another and indulged his favorite composer, Wagner, with a huge
allowance, until he was declared insane by his own family and
ministers. He was taken away in a straitjacket in the middle of the
night from his greatest achievement, Neuschwanstein castle, and locked
up in Berg castle on Lake Starnberg. Soon after, he was found dead,
supposedly drowned in knee-deep water together with his doctor. The
real cause of King Ludwig's death has been a mystery ever since his
body, together with that of his psychiatrist, was dragged from Lake
Starnberg on 13 June, 1886.”
Part of the frustration with the King was his propensity to spend huge
sums of money (that Bavaria did not have) on projects that were
impractical or not needed. “The official version holds that the
Bavarian government was driven to depose the reclusive Ludwig because
he was squandering vast sums of money on bizarre building projects that
were driving his kingdom to ruin.” Bernhard von Gudden, his
psychiatrist, diagnosed him as suffering from paranoia, a condition
which today would be classified as schizophrenia. Ludwig was deprived
of his crown and, according to the official version, he reacted by
drowning himself in Lake Starnberg in a fit of paranoid pique (a state
of vexation caused by a perceived slight or indignity; a feeling of
wounded pride).” “Murder theorists counter with recent medical evidence
which suggests that the king was, in fact, suffering from a form of
meningitis and was far from insane. They say fishermen reported hearing
shots at the time of Ludwig's death and claim that his opponents in the
Bavarian government hired assassins to kill him as he was trying to
flee across the lake. They say that Von Gudden, who was also found dead
in the lake, was shot because he was a witness. To date, the
Wittelsbach family has dismissed all murder theories and refused point
blank to have the king's body exhumed. The latest attempt to persuade
them to change their minds comes from the Berlin historian and author,
Peter Glowasz, who wants to employ Swiss scientists to examine the
corpse by giving it a computer tomography. He insists that while the
procedure would not touch the body, it would show up any gunshot
wounds.” Ah, the intrigue!
This can cause one to wonder whether or not the Congress of the United
States is of sound mind when they recklessly approve (without reading
the proposed legislation) expenditures on things we cannot afford and
do not need. This is not to suggest that politicians need to be removed
from office in a straightjacket – but – there is room for pause
regarding the soundness of their acumen (quickness, accuracy, and
keenness of judgment or insight) based on their recent actions and
majority vote! One inwardly wishes there was an adult somewhere in our
government that would effect restraint. The populace was mesmerized by
rhetoric and promise for change. However, few considered the
ramifications of lofty rhetoric or the inexperienced making the
changes. The idea of the Chief of Staff and his: “Never let a good
crisis go to waste!” is impulse at best and irresponsible at worst. The
Vice-President, in an idle moment of an interview, allowed they had
miscalculated in terms of the financial plight of the nation!
A Biblical Principle is given in Luke 14:28-30, "Suppose one of you
wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the
cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the
foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will
ridicule him, saying, This fellow began to build and was not able to
finish.” Bloviating and bluffing with rhetoric won’t get the job done.
It’s time to begin praying towards the deposing of the current crew of
nabobs in the next election and find people of sound mind and judgment
who may be able to lead us out of the present morass – people less
interested in themselves and their vested interests and more concerned
for their constituents. Consider these things with me.