Always An Evil Cersei

So Games of Thrones session 7 was fantastic!

And the evil ruler of Westeros in King's Landing, Cersei Lannister, never ceases to amaze in her deviousness and wrongdoing. 

There is a great existential threat to the 7 Kingdoms as 100,000 strong army of White Walkers and a zombie dragon (as Air Force) invades from beyond the wall in the far north.

And while Jon Snow (King of the North) and Daenerys Targaryen (Queen heir to the 7 Kingdoms) unites to fight them, Cersei seeks to win it all for herself. 

Cersei gives her word to join them with her armies in the fight against the invaders, but instead she backtracks and plans to conquer them from the south as they faceoff with the enemy to the north. 

This is the classic treachery of getting the upper hand and working to divide and conquer. 

As the Queen of Evil, Cersei will torture and kill anyone in her path to power, even threatening her own brother and incest partner, Ser Jaime, so turning on her competition to the Iron Throne is just a walk in the park for her. 

Unfortunately, this is really a tale of everyday life...where people band together to fight big enemies that threaten us--whether from violence, poverty, or illness--and someone always uses the war of the day as an opportunity to benefit themselves. 

Whether it's arms trafficking, human smuggling, drug profiteering, intellectual property theft, money laundering or someone else trying to get rich, famous, and powerful by exploiting an opening for themselves, there is always a Cersei! 

Cerseis are people that don't care about solving large institutional or global problems--but instead are selfish and seek to capitalize on them.

While the White Walkers invade, Cersei is counting bodies of her enemies fending them off, while she seeks to take over once the battlefield is full of everyone else's corpses. 

Cerseis are people you know at work, school, in the community and in politics...they take when others give, and they don't give back in return, because they want what everyone else has and works for, and that is how they win the Game of Thrones in everyday life.

How do you stop the Cerseis of the world--anyone got some Dragonglass? ;-)

(Source Photo: here with attribution to HBO via the New York Times)

Always An Evil Cersei

Courage To Do The Right Thing

So it takes courage to do the right thing. 

It's the easy way out to shut your eyes and overlook when things are wrong. 

Taking a stand and standing up for what's right often means fighting the good fight. 

But who wants to fight?

Everyone wants to live in peace and quiet. 

In fact, every day we pray repeatedly in the Amidah for peace

In the 19th prayer...

May it please you to bless your people Israel at all times and in every hour with your peace. Blessed are you, O Lord, who blesses his people Israel with peace.

Then again after the prayer for thanks...

Bestow peace, goodness and blessing, life, graciousness, kindness and mercy, upon us and upon all Your people Israel...May it be favorable in Your eyes to bless Your people Israel, at all times and at every moment, with Your peace.

And yet a third time at the end...

He who makes peace in His heavens, may He make peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.

What can be more desired than peace and wellness in our lives?

Yet, when we see corruption, wrongdoing, and evil, people are called on the confront it, and stand up for good. 

Because when evil prevails, there is no real peace in the world. 

Hence, the courageous and righteous are called on to stand up based on integrity, merit, and values, and to work to return a state of justice and peace. 

G-d watches to see to it that good ultimately prevails over evil. 

May He who makes peace, make peace for us and all Israel, and let us say Amen. ;-) 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Courage To Do The Right Thing

Answer Injustice With Justice

So what is amazing about government scandals is not that they happen, because of course, they do. 

But what is amazing is that the American public is frequently denied justice--whether committed under Democratic or Republican administrations.

Maybe this is because the Justice Department is headed by the Attorney General a political appointee of the President, rather than being independent.   

The President oversees all the government agencies in the Executive Branch of the government, including the Department of Justice (DOJ).

When any of the government agencies in the Executive Branch do something wrong, what should happen is that the Department of Justice (including the FBI) would investigate and bring the offenders to justice. 

But instead, a politically motivated President can direct a politicized Justice Department to stand down--and in a sense end up being the "Chief Obstructionist."

Obviously every agency is headed by political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the President and who further the administration's vision, but Justice is unique. 

And if you follow the news, I am sure you can think of more than a few examples where Congress has gotten involved to investigate and even request action by DOJ, but yet nothing seems to happen. 

What is disappointing is that we would like to think that every leader is an icon of righteousness, integrity, and propriety, but instead partisan politics can get in the way, and the leader ends up protecting, whitewashing, or covering up the very wrongdoing that needs to be corrected.

The government system cannot work for the people and the country, if it cannot be accountable to them to do the right thing.

The President--no matter what political affiliation--must assure and be perceived as assuring that everyone under his/her watch is doing the right thing. 

And if and when they stray from serving the people of this country, it should be the President who leads the charge to make it right. 

We all would respect a leader that recognizes and course-corrects when things go astray and does it with integrity and justice--that makes a truly great Democracy.  ;-)

(Source Photo: Rebecca Blumenthal)

Answer Injustice With Justice