Rope

Rope is an interesting tool.

It has many good, solid uses: it can bind things together, it can help people climb higher, it can rescue people, it can be used to set traps, it can display important or pretty things, it can be twisted, tied, and knotted into ornamental objects of great beauty, it can be tied into a noose, it can be used to start a campfire or to burn a home down, it can be used to play many fun games like jump rope, it can set a boundary, it can catch things, it can be used to perform many tricks, and it can hold things up.

Rope is an amazing tool.

Government can be a lot like rope. Good government binds people together, helps people climb higher, rescues people, sets boundaries, performs nifty tricks, holds things up, displays important things, and it can be twisted and tied into pretty things. Occassionally, government has to hold things away from other things, or set traps, or form a noose. Each citizen is not just a strand in the governemntal rope, they are also individual ropes – tying up with one another for any of a number of good things – binding themselves together, holding one another up, helping one another climb, rescueing one another, starting campfires, doing nifty tricks, and being pretty.

Sometimes, I like thinking of us and of our government as threads and ropes, all twisting and twining together for many different reasons.

It appalls and saddens me when I see the rope being used more and more as a noose, and being told over and over again that the only real use for a rope is to hang bad people – and everyone’s bad.

Rope is versatile, and it needs to keep its versatility and flexibility. Rope is more than a noose and an instrument of punishment. Government should be more than a noose and an instrument of torture.

Rope: a metaphor for life.