Cloister Commentary, Day 39: Contempt

I know I’m not alone.

Yesterday, I watched the governor of Georgia address a member of the media, who’d asked him a simple, relevant, and necessary question, with absolute contempt. Once again, I was put in a very frustrating position: my impulse was to want to see this boor publicly disgraced, at the very least chastened into silence, but for that to happen, he would need to be very, very publicly wrong, which would mean…bodies stacked like cordwood. That’s the last thing I want, so that leaves me hoping the boor is correct. I’m really tired of feeling this way, deep in the pit of my stomach. Contempt, militant ignorance, bloviation, bristling insecurity, crudeness–and the blatant inability to accept and respond, intelligently and knowledgeably, to criticism: these have always been the hallmarks of the small man. They can’t also be the hallmarks of our leadership, can they?

I know this is probably weak-minded, but who liked these kinds of humans in high school? Who enjoys them as bosses? Who likes them between their legs?