`There are kings and prophets, I was always told,' said
Tony Benn, the British Socialist politician. `The Kings
have
the power and the prophets have the principles.' I am on
the side of the kings , the people who make things
happen,
but every king needs his prophet, to help him, and in-
creasingly her, keep a clear head amidst the confusions.
No
one, however, would want the prophet to run the show.
Prophets, in spite of their name, do not fortell the
future. No one can do that, and no one should claim to
do
that. What prophets can do is tell the truth as they see
it.
They can point to the emperor's lack of clothes, that
things
are not what people like to think they are. They can warn
of
dangers ahead if the course is not changed. They can,
and
often did, point their fingers at what they thought to
be
wrong, unjust or prejudiced. Most of all, they can offer
a
way of thinking about things, a way to clarify the
dilemmas
and concentrate the mind.
from "The
Empty Raincoat" by Charles Handy