A Parable of Two Brothers

Governor Lemanu’s unabashed hat-in-hand tour across D.C. made me think of a parable of two brothers who went to see their father on his deathbed.

The first brother knelt alongside his father, held his hand and said, “Father, you are both wise and wealthy. I ask nothing of you other than hope I have earned your love, though you’ve given it freely. You never expected us to be perfect; only that we try our very best. I’ve paid my debts, earned my place in this world and set my children up for success. I pray I have honored your legacy and made you proud."

The second brother comes in after the first had left the room, towers over his father lying in bed and says, “Father, calamity has overcome my household for reasons outside of my control. Your expectations of me as a man have been overwhelming my entire life, and they have only served to bring me down. I have never had my brother’s luck! The only thing I ask of you now is for my fair share of your inheritance so that my children will not know poverty.”

If you think the ASG is the first brother in this story, you’d be terribly wrong. And if you think the father in this story is the federal government, you’re even more so.