Run Ranil Run!
Yes! Run Ranil Run!
Ranil, don’t listen to the half-baked, over baked pundits who are scamming you into relinquishing your party. You lead by being at the helm. Of course you don’t have to take “stray fire” and succumb pointlessly. But any fight, however fought, is remembered and revered not only for victory but also for the heart shown, the way you fought. But then who says we have to fight all the time. Fight here is metaphorical, not flailing away or jabbing, hooking, upper cutting and a nice overhand right to deck the opponent or for the south paw a hefty left. No, in all spheres of life we don’t need to be the Pacquiaos, Durans, Ray Leonards, Haglers, Floyd Mayweathers, Alis, Moores, who all picked themselves off the ground and fought on. But they inspire many.
…In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down or cut him
‘Til he cried out in his anger and his shame
I am leaving, I am leaving
But the fighter still remains…[1]
Some hate sports metaphors for life and resort to poetry, nature, birds and flowers and angels. That’s OK. Since Plato we have been trying to deal with the many paths approach, and bend our minds to the prospect of many truths and not trying to force all truths to be one. Modern physicists have dared to present a theory or perhaps more a view of many simultaneous universes as part of reality. Or, they introduce the notion of many simultaneous realities that coexist.
I like the boxing analogies from before the time I was hit with a right cross by a guy who was over 100 lbs. heavier than me. It changed my world-view and my eyesight, let alone how my jaw felt. That event was no more disconcerting than the time I was kicked in the head by a woman shorter than me that spit by eye brow. None of this was done in anger, I was a student learning this stuff, taking my beating on the way. In my case it did not make better but made me aware that I can be beaten soundly by all and sundry, maybe. I did kick a few people in the head as I got along in life.
So as the Greeks said, and many resort to the Greeks to find their way, the Gods made the way for mortals by binding learning with suffering. We suffer to learn and we learn by suffering. Too much of it and we give up. And as a dark minded philosopher said, what does not kill us makes us stronger, broken bones attest to that. The enlightened one said try to get to the middle ground.
And has Ranil suffered long enough? Who decides? He must lead, defeat may stare at him with three leering heads, but he must go on. Well anyone who wanted the fleece needed to risk much to get it. Where are the fleas? The underdog! Nah! Great rewards are entwined with great risks, and Ranil knows it. The crowd, be it the wise collection or the mad one, kind of has a special place for the underdog, it likes to even things out. This some leaders know it and some ignore at their peril. Some try to take this part out of the reckoning altogether. Long harangues, big assemblies, penned in fed and released. They eat they go and do as they please? Maybe.
To believe in the crowd, the people, is a great leap of necessary faith. Not necessarily a leap over the un-bridged and unbridgeable chasm. It is a demonstration of faith over the corruption of filthy lucre. So run Rani Run! And if you fall we will cheer you up and urge you on, run till you finish, it does not matter when you finish and at what place but many people will not forget that you ran. The myth of the also ran is when the running was reluctant running bashful running.
But for the full-hearted running, running the long race, that is, running to inspire others for the long haul, that is life and leadership and politics.
So run Rani run, risk it all, it is worth it, run!
[1] Paul Simon. The Boxer. Columbia Records. 1969 and also in the Album, Bridge over Troubled Water. Columbia Records, 1970.