A Man’s Worth
Author’s note: This piece is dedicated to the memory of Angie Tibbs, who was a dear friend and also my editor at DV for many years. Her light still shines in the souls of the justice seekers and the peace makers to light our way through these dark times.
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. – Matthew 19:24
I recently had the misfortune of seeing a video clip of Stephen Miller, one of the chief architects operating within the lawless Trump regime, presenting Trump as a great man, ostensibly because he is a billionaire who is accruing still more wealth while presiding as the head of state in the US. The core tenet of Miller’s shallow assessment is that a person’s value to society can only be commodified and measured in dollars and cents. This suggests that Miller knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.
In contrast to Miller, I contend that money making by hook or crook, almost entirely the latter, is not evidence of greatness or character and that a litany of malfeasance and felonies are certainly not a measure of a man’s worth. But under capitalism, where money and material possessions are God, the prince of darkness sits upon a golden toilet and empties his bowels, in much the same way as the rest of us, but for whom porcelain is good enough.
The American oligarchs behave as if having money is somehow equated with the highest virtues of humanity and therefore worthy of respect and adulation, if not also emulation. But from my working-class perspective, neither Trump nor Miller possess a scintilla of grace or virtue. Indeed, no member of Trump’s corrupt cabinet has ever been accused of manifesting empathy or morality.
Trump and his acolytes are at best sociopaths, and at worst, psychopaths. They obviously enjoy hurting people, and they appear to become aroused while they watch their victim’s suffering, as their deaths play out in places like Minnesota and Venezuela. These are not admirable traits, and they are not evidence of greatness, but rather of depravity. Neither are they evidence of psychological health, strength and character. They are symptoms of weakness, disease and rot.
In the eyes of more righteous and humble ordinary men and women, Stephen Miller and Donald Trump are grotesque monsters. They are sick, soulless men and a danger to the entire world, the lowest of the low, and vilest of the vile. All the money in the world cannot buy them character, integrity, respect or forgiveness for their crimes against humanity. When their death arrives, as it inevitably will, few are those who are debased enough to mourn their passing. Many will celebrate. Their legacy is corruption and a trail of corpses. History will not remember them kindly.
If these character flaws are evidence of wealth, the kind that cannot be corrupted by moth and rust, then give me dignified poverty. Decent people have no desire to emulate ignorant, greedy, power-hungry fools. The oligarch gods suffer from arrested psychological development, but they imagine themselves to be Gods among mortal men. Their wealth is accumulated on the backs of the working class. Coping with reality and deep introspection are not among their strengths.
Men like Donald Trump and Stephen Miller carry bibles and they speak the language of Christianity, but in truth, Christ would be ashamed of such company. It was men like Trump and Miller that crucified Christ. They are antichrists dressed in the garments of Christianity, preaching the false gospel of prosperity, pretending to be what they are not and can never be. Their despicable deeds speak for themselves and that will be their legacy.
Mired in the quicksand of self-aggrandizement and delusion, both men are examples of mediocrity and rot. They are dead on the inside; ghouls dressed in the finest garments that money can buy, much like Jeffrey Epstein was. Fine clothes are but an outer garment that conceals the naked emperor that lurks underneath. Clothes cannot conceal who and what the emperor really is. In the words of songwriter Leonard Cohen: “Everybody knows.” That is, everybody but him.
The real value of a man cannot be measured in dollars and cents or in gold and silver, or digital currencies. A man’s true worth is measured by his service to his fellow man and woman, and it is cloaked in humility. Men like Alex Pretti, who became a working-class martyr a few days ago, is of greater worth to humanity than a million Donald Trumps and Stephen Millers. Remember that Christ was a pauper. He was, as Thoreau said of himself, rich without damage to his poverty. Superfluous wealth is an impediment to growth, not an asset to psychological development and spiritual evolution.
In the same way, the value of Renee Nicole Good to humanity far exceeds the value of all the oligarchs combined. She, too, was martyred by Trump’s goon squad in the streets of Minnesota. She wore a crown of innocence that her killers cannot buy at any price.
While it is true that the voice of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good have been silenced, the collective voice of resistance to tyranny rings loud and clear. Martyrdom brings people together and amplifies their power. Their ideas, their example, lives on in us. The final deeds of Alex Pretti, who died courageously protecting a woman from physical abuse by armed thugs, lights the way through the darkness of oppression and despair. That light can never be extinguished. Alex Pretti’s extrajudicial execution has inspired organized opposition to tyranny. Let his death be not in vain.
Whatever lies are sold to us in the corporate propaganda mills, the people in the streets know who the real domestic terrorists are.
