The Wisdom of Solomon

Sometimes those whose task it is to uphold our labyrinthian laws have all my sympathy.    how to keep a rational head on the shoulders  is something i think  would drastically increase the proportion of grey to henna in the jeni frizzy hair if the decisions were mine to make.    i mean, imagine having to find  a response to this dilemma faced by the monarch of a Middle Eastern country a few thousand years ago:

Mr Monarch finished his breakfast of peacock eggs and toasted soldiers.......that's the bread sort not the machine gun toting sort........and headed for his kingly chair, premium Ikea imported that very season.   settling down and hoping for a quiet morning judging he had just finished a long, silent eggy belch when an almighty.......small a, not CAPITAL A He came into the original story at an earlier  date......kerfuffle broke out at the back of the courtroom.   

Two distraught young ladies bickered their way to the front each holding a small baby.    one breathing........one not.    the tragic story poured out of them of sharing a labour ward and each delivering a healthy infant called Charlotte........i know, predictable but it's late and there is a sort of royal theme to the story, and  it  IS a pretty name.......   When they woke in the morning one of the babies was deceased.     Now, our labour ward........that's baby labour ward not political district Labour Ward....... hadn't really got to grips with health and safety and had failed to attach name bands to the babies........you couldn't get  good quality staff in those days.   both of our mums were claiming the surviving baby  was theirs.

All eyes turned to our king, it was his task to pass  judgement and decide which one was to go home with a living infant.    no adjourning to a future date or passing the buck to a jury, no CSI.......his was the final word.

Our Mr Wise King  called for a sword........no not ISIL, wrong tribe.......and ordered the baby  be chopped in two so the mums could have half each.    pseudo mum nodded assent and asked for the top part not the smelly part.    truedo mum declared  "no way kingo dude,  i'd rather she took him alive than see him felled like a young oak"......or something like that.   of course real mum went home vindicated with her baby and we gained the saying "the wisdom of Solomon".

Now, fast forward several thousand years to last week and read the link below for our very own 21st century Solomon.......though we have judges who take turns in making the hard choices not kings.  spreading the load must make it easier to sleep at night.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/14/pursuit-barkers-modern-britain-tesco-compassion-judge

Isn't it heartening to know that in this time of psycho babble and un-understandable  judgements that come out of our courts there are some who can cut through the crap and show some humanity and common sense.