SUDDENLY we are witnessing a torrent of arrests relating to alleged criminal activities, most notably corruption.
The queue being called to question is steadily becoming longer – not that they always pitch up at the hearings.
If one listens in, for example, to the Zondo Commission, we would inwardly be hoping that the writing is on the wall for those who have reportedly robbed the country almost to the point of bankruptcy.
It’s an interesting phrase, that, concerning the ‘writing on the wall’.
Younger readers might think it refers to a graffiti artist like Banksy, but those familiar with the Bible will know it speaks of the mysterious hand that appeared during the great feast of Belshazzar, as recorded in the book of Daniel.
Words appear in Aramaic, roughly transliterated as: mene mene tekel uparsin.
As naughty Sunday school kids we used to say: ‘meanie, meanie tickle the parson’, but the message was a serious one, predicting the overthrow of the Babylonian kingdom.
Belshazzar in fact died that very night. Hence, it’s become an idiom for anyone whose time has come and who must face judgement and wrath.
The problem in this country is that the writing on the wall is too easily erased or painted over, so that the consequences are not borne.
Someone has said that the trouble with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar; in the same way, whitewashing of deeds by friends in high places enables the guilty to escape punishment.
Walls are not the only things that get written on, and one of my favourite reading pleasures is the messages on headstones in graveyards.
There’s a book written by Allen Foster called ‘Dead Funny’, all about hilarious tombstones, such as this one from Northern Ireland: ‘Erected to the memory of John Phillips, accidentally shot as a mark of affection by his brother.’
And one from Belturbet, County Cavan: ‘Here lies John Highey, whose mother and father were drowned in their passage from America.
Had they both lived they would be buried here.
‘ Work that out if you can! I’ve already decided on mine: ‘Back in five minutes.’
But they are not always amusing; tombstone messages are sometimes extremely thought-provoking.
I found this one online, from the grave of a gay Vietnam war veteran: ‘They gave me a medal for killing two men, and a discharge for loving one.’
Food for thought.
