Well. I've been doin' some research. Most of y'all who follow me here know that and what I think about it. But I do want to be helpful - not an overall pain in the ass. I know I write with tone. Insert eyeroll. I get it.
As I've been collaborating with folks, I'm realizing some stuff about free speech. The folks who know what's going on...they cain't say a thing. They cain't even say anything if they quit or they get fired.
Teachers and school leaders are afeared of saying stuff that'd make the government mad at 'em enough to impact their livelihoods. And some of them are afeard of bein' a part of organizations that say stuff a lot of people need them to say.
Free speech ain't what we think it is in Texas education anyway. So what am I gonna do? I have a lot of information that I think will be beneficial. And it will piss off a lot of folks. But it might make things better if I put on my Polyanna hat - don't we want kids who can read and think on their own? I thought that's what we were doin' here.
So I wrote myself into somethin silly. The Bible always seems like a good place to start for guidance. Turns out there is a story in there about a lady who did speak up when others couldn't. I started writing for myself - to help me make some decisions and next steps. Hoping to be wise. Even though it's a parable, it ends with a call to action, invitation, and a recipe. Let me know if you wanna review the research or hear the scoop. I need some help. And the good book does say that a plan with many advisors rarely fails.
A Purim Parable: How to Speak Up
There was this chick back in the day that spoke up for her people. Basically, this Haman guy was going to have all
her folks killed. He had it all planned out with the King of Persia. This woman knew that telling the king - Xerces I -
about the plan might get her killed. One - because the king didn’t ask for her ideas. Second - because she had never
told Xerxes that she was Jewish. Yeah, she was the Queen of Persia - but she’d have to admit to being Jewish to her
husband. Get killed for talking to the king without permission. Expose her identity and die. That’s not a win-win
situation in any strategy
But - she knew that she needed help from the community. She also knew she had to have moral clarity. She asked her
relatives and Jewish community to fast, pray, and prepare. And she worked on herself to build the courage to approach
the king. She looked at the original cause for Hamon to request genocide and compared it to decency and Persion
norms. “If I perish, I perish,” she decided.
So, she planned her entrance. No one could really go in and talk to the king. The guards would just kill them unless
the king held out his gold stick -even the Queen. She put on all her fancy clothes - the ones that indicated her status
and royalty and just stood where Xerces could see her. She just stood there. She let HIM make the choice of letting her
in.
Xerces asks her what she wants. Offers her up to half of the Persion kingdom. But this woman, she lay low, she don’t
say nothin’. Kinda like Brer Rabbit. She doesn't mention that Hamon is harassing her family. She doesn’t mention
that she knows Xerces told Harmon it was ok to kill all of her people - including her. Be she don’t say none of that.
She invites Xerces and Harmon to a banquet!
At the banquet, Xerces tries to find out what she really wants. But she won’t say and invites them to another banquet
the following day. Basically, she knows how to work a man and a plan.. Harman feels safe and arrogant. We find out
that he bragged to his wife that he was the only one invited to dine with the King and Queen. And she also set a trap.
When the time is right, Hamon will be in the room. And he will not have had time to prepare diddly squat in defense.
At the second banquet, she carefully lays out her argument…respectully.
She doesn’t say - “You are a pigish bigot for killing all the Jews over a perceived insult.”
She doesn’t say - “You don’t have to right to kill anyone!” because he did.
She doesn’t say - “These people didn’t do anything wrong!” because they did sort of.
She didn’t ask - “Don’t do this!” and embarrass himself to go back on his word.
Instead, Esther - her name was Esther - knew some critical details that made the situation untenable. She explains the
situation in personal terms because she knows some things that Xerxes does not.
“Now, Hon, I plan to stay in your good graces…delight in them actually,” fluttering her eyes and turning her head
bashfully. “All I’m askin’ for is to keep breathin’ by your side - pretty please? And don’t turn your back on my
kinfolk, neither. There’s this wicked ole cuss whole done gone and put a price on our heads. Why, he’s aimin’ to
wipe us off the map, scattered to the wind and gone for good. I’m scared, darlin.”
Well, old Xerces didn’t want his sugar-blossom all flustered like that. He asked who would dare to do such a thing to
his Queen or her folks. Esther didn’t drop a second of time and pointed to Haman. “That no-good-snake-in-the-grass
is no one other than that rascal Hamon right here eatin’ at your table.”
Xerces knew he was about to blow his top. He’d reached for his sword, but thought better of it for a moment and
excused himself to the garden to throw a proper fit away from the ladies.
Haman - well, he knew he done messed up and knew he’d better be makin up with the Queen. He fell on her couch
bawlin for his life. ‘Bout that time, the king walked back in to see what looked like Haman on the couch a-tryin’ to
kiss and fondle his wife.
“That snake! Will he molest my Queen while she’s in my own house?” Xerces remembered the 75 foot gallows
towering over the garden. Harmon had built to kill the Jews. “String him up!” Xerces commanded the guards.
But Esther knew there was still the problem of the decree. Xerces had signed that decree with his royal ring. And,
he’d accepted a bribe from Haman to compensate for the loss of tax-payin’ citizens. Esther knew slaves would be
tolerable as a loss - but genocide was quite another thing. “Hon, I would have kept my mouth shut and not bothered
you if we’d just been sold as slaves. I couldn’t let you take the fall for bein’ so fiscally stupid with Persia’s money.
How ‘bout you just make a new decree. Give my people the right to protect themselves against Hamon’s trickery.
Our people are strong. We can take care of business.”
And so he did. Even though Hamon was still a swingin, there was the matter of the law. Plenty of folks across the
127 provinces of Persia were loyal to Hamon, hated Jews, wanted Jewish property, or all three. On the 13th of Adar,
these groups set out to rid Persia of the Jews.
The Plains Tribune would-a reported it somethin’ like this:
Well now, Haman was already dancin' the henchman’s jig, but his boys and his buddies didn't get the memo. They came lookin' for a scrap on that 13th of Adar, thinkin' they had the law on their side. But "our folks stood their ground and gave 'em a proper thrashin'. We took out 75,000 of 'em across the territory, but they didn't touch a thin dime of their belongin's—we weren't lookin' to get rich, just lookin' to stay alive," reported one of the Jewish soldiers, And just to make sure the message stuck, Queen Esther had 'em hoist Haman’s ten boys up on the poles so the whole town could see what happens when you cross the wrong lady.
Some folks still celebrate that victory at the beginning of March. They call it Purim. They read the stories of Esther.
The audience will
boo and drown out the name of Haman. They send gift baskets of ready to eat stuff - goodies mostly. They make sure
to help at least two people in need that day. They eat and get drunk until they can’t tell the difference between “cursed
by Haman” and “blessed be Mordecai”. Mordecai was the feller that offended Haman in the first place. Also Esther’s
cousin. Kids dress up in costumes and people view plays - political satire. Folks eat triangular stuffed pastries and
call them Haman’s hat, ears, or pockets.
I’ll be sendin’ an invite for Texas-Sized Sweet n Sandy Hamantashen and some punch for Purim. Hell knows we have enough political fodder to rouse up some satire.
I wanna talk for a spell about some things that need sayin’ and other folks can’t. Hit me up if you want an invite.
Since we’ve been talkin' all about that brave Queen Esther, it’s only right we whip up some Hamantaschen—those three-cornered pastries that look just like Haman’s old hat (or his ears, dependin' on who’s tellin' the tale).I need some advisors and help getting thinkin about the most helpful way forward.
