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Let's Host A Beauty Pageant


                Later when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. 
         Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful girls into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. Then let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” 
          This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it. (Esther 2:1-4) 

          I have to wonder what “remembered” means here. Did he get up the next morning, hung over and think, “OK, Xerxes, you kicked Vashti to the curb, so now you have to figure out what to do”? Or, did he grumble and curse and call for her, only to be asked, “Don’t you remember, Sire (May you live forever)? You sent her away.” No matter what his attitude about it, he once again sought and accepted the advice of his peeps. He had a real problem. He’d done something stupid, and the rule among the Medes and Persians was that kings couldn’t take back their decisions, no matter how stupid, because doing so would show them to be weak, stupid, indecisive, poor leaders. He’d unmade his bed, and so he had to lie in it.
         …Or, his advisors suggested, find someone new to make it. Have a Miss Persia and Medes contest, and the prize for the winner is the title of Mrs. Xerxes, while the lesser prize for the runners up is the memory of that one night and free room and board with all her fellow-contestants for the rest of their lives. What beautiful young girl wouldn’t jump at the chance to win either of those prizes? “The Batchelor” Fifth Century BC style. 
         I haven’t seen this on social media quite so much any more. I used to see it a lot. Women posting stuff saying “All” they want is a guy who will build his life around her, make her the priority, and her kids by a previous lover his second priority (recognizing that they are higher priority to her than he is), worshipping her, with all her flaws, as his goddess but allowing her to remake him to suit her needs…. We have apparently become a society of King Xerxes. 
         And when we make stupid mistakes, like he did? Apparently, society is supposed to adapt to meet our needs, to provide still more raw material that we can misuse, destroy, and dispose of. Of course, we must recycle plastic, but people are disposable.

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