When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under
— Matthew 2:16, NIV —
Herod was the Roman-approved king of Judea. He benefitted greatly from the way things were arranged in his little kingdom. So when the Persians showed up to worship the newborn king of the Jews, you can understand why he was upset. Obviously a baby massacre is a horrendous response. But it illustrates the lengths people will go to to protect the status quo when they benefit from it.
This dark little piece of the Christmas story raises questions for us:
When you are fighting to maintain the status quo, ask: Am I participating in hurting other people and/or the planet by fighting to keep things the same?
When you’re trying to create change and you are facing resistance, ask: who is benefitting from the status quo? Now you know who you need to win over, defeat, ignore or, like the magi, sneak away from in order to make change happen.
Adobe Firefly seems to have realised that the Mary and Josephine scenario is objectively less funny than Joseph and Gary, so when I asked for a ‘nativity scene in the style of a of a pulp science fiction book cover’, the AI came back with:
Joseph: The gnomes are finally quiet in the nest. It’s time to do the sacred ritual of th— Gary, why are you wearing a Santa beard over your real beard?
Gary: [whispering] Don’t question the Santa beard, Joe.
Grow slowly
Jeff
I have a hard time relating to status quo. I don’t recall it. I’m an explorer. There have been escapes, endeavors, risks, getting lost...but status quo hasn’t been in my word garden 🪴 I don’t like the sound of it either 🙉