allanhunter.net Blog

One of the things I enjoy most about having become aware of the archetypal system as it exists in our world is that, once you see it, it pops up everywhere.  Not that it wasn’t there before, it’s just that we so rarely take the time to notice it. 

I was talking the other day about Oprah’s new school for girls in South Africa, marveling about how she chose to empower these impoverished and unregarded young women, choosing to educate them to become the new leaders in their society - and to redress the imbalance in sex-roles in that country.  The person I was talking with muttered something about how we needed schools in the US just as much.

And that set me thinking.  If Oprah had taken her millions to the school district of some deserving corner of the US and attempted the same thing, how far do you think she’d have got?  I wonder.

Instead she chose to take her money to a place where the people have almost nothing, where the help was really going to make a huge difference right away because the need was desperate.  It can’t have been easy to manage, yet Opah took her vision and asked those South African educators to help her make it work.  She made decisions and directed and above all she listened - just as a Monarch is supposed to do in balancing the compassionate with the decisive.

The immediate contrast that came to mind was with our President, who landed on the deck of that aircraft carrier in 2003 and waved at the cameras as he stood under the ‘Mission Accomplished’ sign.  Everyone now knows that he wanted to look the the conquering hero - but that he had no vision for Iraq, nor for the future.  He just wanted to look good.  That’s the pseudo-Monarch.

In contrast Oprah had a real plan; she consulted with people on the ground; she developed and altered the plan as needed; and she put in the reserach, the effort and the follow up funds too. That’s what the Monarch does best - gets everyone to work well together. Oh, and Oprah wanted to do something to promote peace in a peaceful way.  Did I mention that?

We still need more and better schools in the US, of course.  Could it be that Oprah decided not to put her money here because she noticed one important thing?  After all, we already have the money for schools right now, right here.  But we’re not using it for schools, we’re using it for war. 

So, as we think about the up-coming elections, which sort of Monarch are you going to support?