Posted on 12/26/2009 9:51:24 PM PST by Ooh-Ah
Mark Steyn, who frequently serves as a fill-in for Rush Limbaugh and recently has been filling-in for Sean Hannity on his television program, is a genuine treasure. He manages to combine a riotous sense of humor with conservative wisdom and his own je ne sais quoi.
Today, on Rush Limbaugh’s radio program, Steyn told a story about a funeral he recently attended in Europe at a church that had been built in the 11th century.
His party was in the vehicle immediately behind the hearse, so he couldn’t help but see a cart that looked to him like a shopping cart being wheeled up to the hearse.
He asked the pallbearers who were in the process of unloading the casket what the shopping cart was for. And one of them answered and said, “It’s to bear the casket, mate.”
Steyn said, “I thought you were supposed to carry the casket in.” He pointed to the handles and said, “Here are the handles. You’re pallbearers. You’re supposed to bear the pall.”
The pallbearer said, “Health Services regulations, mate. We’re not allowed to carry the casket due to safety regulations.”
Steyn said, “Safety regulations?”
The pallbearer said, “The path is uneven.”
Mark Steyn then said, “This is a one thousand year-old church. That same path has been uneven for a thousand years. And now somebody decides its unsafe to carry a casket?”
The pallbearer repeated, “Safety regulations, mate.” As though that was all the answer that was needed.
Mark Steyn and his brother decided that this wouldn’t do. “We’ll carry the casket in ourselves.”
The pallbearers said, “You can’t. You need to have a license from the state to be pallbearers.”
Steyn’s brother said, “What’s the point in becoming a licensed pallbearer if you’re not allowed to actually bear the pall?”
They argued about it for a little while, and finally decided that Steyn and his brother would assist the pallbearers in carrying the casket.
What’s the moral of this story? Steyn said that this is just the way big government works in today’s modern Europeanized socialism. It simply takes over everything with a gradual takeover of regulations.
And he pointed out that you have to fight against it in all the little things, because otherwise it will simply just keep regulating more and more little things and accumulating more and more power over every aspect of our lives.
Then he referenced an article entitled, “Totalitarian Sentimentality,” which I thought worthy of posting.
By Roger Scruton from the December 2009-January 2010 issue
...careful with word choice there. An anti-sentimentality campaign was used by the wrong kind of people at least once in the past.
While all this was going on, the deceased was rolling over in the casket, just like our forefathers are rolling over in their graves.
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