Worth His Salt?

This notion of who is deserving and who is not deserving is a perplexing one. What makes us deserving? More to the point, what makes us qualified to decide who deserves what? Was it some mammoth good deed that merits praise and admiration; or was some walloping injustice done to some unsuspecting, good-natured person who trusted their perpetrator? Bernie Madoff deserves whatever form of hell on earth that can be dished out and Obama doesn't deserve the Nobel. That man who imprisoned the young girl in some hovel in his back yard deserves to die a slow and painful death, while Ronald Reagan is deserving of an amusement park with rides in his likeness. It is interesting that we have a process for sanctioning or elevating people in the court of public opinion: the radio talk show, a Twitter topic, or a fan page on someones Face book. Public opinion is powerful and can influence the malleable. Drop by drop public opinion can turn a swell into a tsunami. We should tread with care, lest we drown. "It is the folly of too many to mistake the echo of a London coffee house for the voice of the kingdom." Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)