Good Night, David Broder; Good Morrow, Davod Brooks

Our family knows better than to call on Friday nights. We are watching Washington Week in Review. For many years David Broder appeared on the panel and was a respected guest in our home. Good night, old friend.

The king is dead; long live the king. Succession just is.

David Brooks appears to have the mantel fall upon him. He has been consistent in the offering of astute and responsible views on the PBS evening news as he has debated Mark Shields. On Thursday, in one of those brilliant Diane Rehm shows he was all that could be expected of he who wears the crown. That afternoon we went to Barnes & Noble and picked up his new book, The Social Animal.

There are many opinion makers to the right and left who will compete for the rights of royalty, some of whom have great talent as entertainers. Would that I could offer a critique, but alas, not. At Barnes & Noble I could not resist checking to see if they still carried my last book on OCD. They do. We who live in a village of glass houses should cherish some forms of silence.

What is needed in the inevitable come and go of we time limited humans, is a standard. The Word of God is the preferred offering in my circles. Unfortunately, if you read it from cover to cover over the years, the presence of alterative certainties is apt to produce brain lock. There is a traditional way out, although I have never practiced it before. I have chosen to use the King James Version of Bible to add great authenticity to my new search. Sneer not ye doubters: I am aware of the opinion offered that some practitioners are thought to have an advantage of much advanced study.

So, I hold the Good Book, King James Version no less, shut my eyes, open the book, stab at a point on a page, open my eyes, look at the verse for guidance of the most creditable sort as to those who lead the way. There it is, his advice to his son Timothy – and to all of us who aspire to be his sons and daughters:

The love of money is the root of all evil.

Ahum.

               

PLEASE! Read David Brook’s column, “The New Humanism,” in the New York Times, 3/7/11 GREAT!