Monday, December 14, 2009

The Dinner Roll





The Dinner Roll ...


Once upon a time I was invited to the White House for a private dinner with the President.


I am a respected businessman, with a factory that produces memory chips for computers and portable electronics. There was some talk that my industry was being scrutinized by the administration, but I paid it no mind. I live in a FREE country. There's nothing that the government can do to me if I've broken no laws. My wealth was EARNED honestly, and an invitation to dinner with an American President is an honor.


I checked my coat, was greeted by the Chief of Staff, and joined the President in a yellow dining room. We sat across from each other at a table draped in white linen. The Great Seal was embossed on the china. Uniformed staff served our dinner. The meal was served , and I was startled when my waiter suddenly reached out, plucked a dinner roll off my plate and began nibbling it as he walked back to the kitchen..


"Sorry 'bout that," said the President. "Andrew is very hungry."


"I don't appreciate..." I began, but as I looked into the calm brown eyes across from me, I felt immediately guilty and petty.


It was just a dinner roll.


"Of course," I concluded, and reached for my glass. Before I could, however, another waiter reached forward, took the glass away and swallowed the wine in a single gulp.


"And his brother, Eric, is very thirsty," said the President.


I didn't say anything. The President is testing my compassion, I thought. I withheld my comments and decided to play along. I don't want to seem unkind..


My plate was whisked away before I had tasted a bite.


"Eric's children are also quite hungry."


With a lurch, I crashed to the floor. My chair had been pulled out from under me. I stood, brushing myself off angrily, and watched as it was carried from the room.


"And their grandmother can't stand for long."


I excused myself, smiling outwardly, but inside feeling like a fool. Obviously I had been invited to the White House to be sport for some game. I reached for my coat, to find that it had been taken. I turned back to the President.


"Their grandfather doesn't like the cold."


I wanted to shout, "that was my coat!" But again, I looked at the placid smiling face of my host and decided I was being a poor sport. I spread my hands helplessly and chuckled.


Then I felt my hip pocket and realized my wallet was gone. I excused myself and walked to a phone on an elegant side table.


I learned shortly that my credit cards had been maxed out, my bank accounts emptied, my retirement and equity portfolios had vanished, and my wife had been thrown out of our home. Apparently, the waiters and their families were moving in.


The President hadn't moved or spoken as I learned all this, but finally I lowered the phone into its cradle and turned to face him.


"Andrew's whole family has made bad financial decisions. They haven't planned for retirement and they need a house. They recently defaulted on a subprime mortgage. I told them they could have your home. They need it more than you do."


My hands were shaking. I felt faint. I stumbled back to the table and knelt on the floor.


The President cheerfully cut his meat, ate his steak, and drank his wine.


I lowered my eyes and stared at the small grey circles on the tablecloth that were water drops.


"By the way," he added , "I have just signed an Executive Order nationalizing your factories. I'm firing you as head of your business. I'll be operating the firm now for the benefit of all mankind. There's a whole bunch of Erics and Andrews out there and they can't come to you for jobs groveling like beggars..we need to spread YOUR wealth around..."


I looked up. The President dropped his spoon into the empty ramekin which had been his crème Brule. He drained the last drops of his wine. As the table was cleared, he lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. He stared at me.


I clung to the edge of the table as if it were a ledge and I were a man hanging over an abyss. I thought of the years behind me, of the life I had lived. The life I had earned with a lifetime of work, risk and struggle. Why was I punished? How had I allowed it to be taken? What game had I played and lost? I looked across the table and noticed with some surprise that there was no game board between us. What had I done wrong?


As if answering the unspoken thought, the President suddenly cocked his head, locked his empty eyes to mine, and bared a million teeth, chuckling wryly as he folded his hands.


"You should have stopped me at the dinner roll," he said.


WAKE UP AMERICA !!!



[The BLOG note: This came to me via email from MH.]
[The BLOG note2: This came to me via email from the author, Richard Gleaves: "If you guys are getting this in e-mail, can you ask the sender to at least put my name on it? I'm the author and I'm tired of tracking this down.Richard GleavesFirst posted on RebirthofReason.comrebirthofreason.com/Articles/Gleaves/Dinner_at_the_White_House_-_a_parable.shtml."]

12 comments:

Z said...

I just got this this morning via email, too...am SO glad you posted it. WAKE UP, AMERICA is right.

Anonymous said...

If you guys are getting this in e-mail, can you ask the sender to at least put my name on it? I'm the author and I'm tired of tracking this down.

Richard Gleaves
First posted on RebirthofReason.com
rebirthofreason.com/Articles/Gleaves/Dinner_at_the_White_House_-_a_parable.shtml

cube said...

Z: Thank you. We run in the same circles.

cube said...

Richard Gleaves: Thank you for your incisive essay. I'm sorry that you aren't getting the attribution you deserve. I have added your name to the post.

Right Truth said...

I've read this before, it's great and needs to be spread across the internet.

Debbie
Right Truth
http://www.righttruth.typepad.com

DaBlade said...

I liked it until butthead made a federal case over it. It's good bud, but no pulitzer, ok? That's mine!

Dont Drink The Kool-Aide said...

The Obamanable One will sign the treaty because he is a radical communist. The signing is a tactical ploy to 1st. Further erode the unalienable rights bestowed to us by "our Creator", and handed over to us by way of the very document he fraudulently swore to up hold and defend-the Constitution, and 2nd. Steal more money from those who produce to do his part among his fellow socialist miscreants to bring about a world government of absolutism.

Hussein Obama is a liar, a deceiver, a manipulator, and a complete and utter fraud who has no conscience. 1st. The vehement fight for the suffocation or lethal injection of born alive babies 'marked for death'. That's what the executioners in the killing rooms call babies that are to be killed-babies 'marked for death.' 2nd. The raising of over $1,000,000 to get his Marxist Muslim cousin Ray Odinga elected and establish Sharia law. Over 1,000 innocents were literally butchered with machetes by Muslims who supported Hussein Obama and his 'cause.' Thousands of Christians had to flee for their lives. 3rd. The Obamanable One's meddling in Honduras seeking to overthrow their own constitution.
Obama believes in the AGW (anthropogenic or man-made global warming) theory. He believes in "economic and social justice" and that logically leads to "climate justice." He may believe that the US owes a "climate debt" to the rest of the world. What better way to lead the charge than to carry the ultimate banner of the radical left -- wealth redistribution -- under the auspices of the "crises of climate change.
Death and destruction have no effect on this piece of trash as long as death and/or destruction parallel his goals-whatever his cause.

nanc said...

This is a "somewhat" spin off of the Old Testament story of Job - perhaps Mr. Gleaves would like to give credit where credit is due? Is chairman zero satan in this version?

Otherwise a fully comprehensible tale of exactly what all of U.S. should expect from this administration - or any other administration for that matter - no sense in pretending to be non-partisan anymore! I've decided to become an equal opportunity disliker - and dislike everyone in deecee with equal vigor.

And, what Dablade said.

cube said...

Debbie: I agree. It is important that people see what is being done to the country.

DaBlade: I can understand someone being torqued over not getting attribution for something they wrote.

don't drink the kool-aide: Please don't be shy. Tell us what you really think ;-)

cube said...

nanc: I'm not holding many pols in high esteem either, but you've got to admit that the republicans are marginally better than the crazy libs.

Their votes are being bought with our taxes and they can't be bothered to listen to our points of view. They are going to ram Obamacare down our throats. Most republicans are running away from that toxic boondoggle.

nanc said...

I'm sick of them all and will here on out go with my "TEApublican" instincts!

cube said...

Nanc: We've got to weed the RINOs out of the republican party and inspire people with the principles of conservatism that Reagan championed. If we go third party, I think we will lose in 2012 and I don't think I could live through 8 years of BO.