When The Snowden Revelations first broke in late May 2013, I couldn't help but notice his date of birth: June 21, 1983. A mere 20 days away from my own. Which means that we were both of us in the messy process of turning 30 when it happened.
My experience of said process inclines me to conjecture that it may not have been altogether without bearing on his decision to go public. A costly act of selfless bravery, or a desperate bid for significance ahead of a conspicuous personal landmark? Or, if my own (far less internationally consequential) attempts at 'meaningful' adult life are anything to go by, a complex blend of both ...
A CRITICAL AGE
And it came to pass in his thirtieth year
He found that he could not not speak
A world watched and watching needed to hear
The impulse unseating his quiet career
Arrived at its zenith its peak
And it came to pass in his thirtieth year
Now ready to lose all he had and all dear
Now nobody could call him weak
A world watched and watching needed to hear
He'd seen things would summon their rage their fear
The scaffold was starting to creak
And it came to pass in his thirtieth year
The date of his reckoning figured austere
He or it was going to break
A world watched and watching needed to hear
No back for the on on set pioneer
Let what consequences would wreak
And it came to pass in his thirtieth year
A world watched and watching needed to hear
Carolyn Whitnall, 2014.
"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit..." (Philippians 2:3a). Eek. Have I ever done anything, good or bad, however miniscule, that didn't undershoot this exhortation?
My experience of said process inclines me to conjecture that it may not have been altogether without bearing on his decision to go public. A costly act of selfless bravery, or a desperate bid for significance ahead of a conspicuous personal landmark? Or, if my own (far less internationally consequential) attempts at 'meaningful' adult life are anything to go by, a complex blend of both ...
A CRITICAL AGE
And it came to pass in his thirtieth year
He found that he could not not speak
A world watched and watching needed to hear
The impulse unseating his quiet career
Arrived at its zenith its peak
And it came to pass in his thirtieth year
Now ready to lose all he had and all dear
Now nobody could call him weak
A world watched and watching needed to hear
He'd seen things would summon their rage their fear
The scaffold was starting to creak
And it came to pass in his thirtieth year
The date of his reckoning figured austere
He or it was going to break
A world watched and watching needed to hear
No back for the on on set pioneer
Let what consequences would wreak
And it came to pass in his thirtieth year
A world watched and watching needed to hear
Carolyn Whitnall, 2014.
"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit..." (Philippians 2:3a). Eek. Have I ever done anything, good or bad, however miniscule, that didn't undershoot this exhortation?
[Thumbnail image cc from AK Rockefeller on Flickr].
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