Let Them Eat Cake

The New York Times posted a leading story the other day concerning some protests in the small West African country of Senegal.  Protesters, mainly youth, crowded the streets chucking stones while police responded firing tear gas.  Although the battle was unbalanced, the people stood their ground.  They accused the president, Abdoulaye Wade, of attempting a “monarchic” “power grab” because of the proposals he intended to pass that would favor his third-term re-election.  For example, he wanted to lower the percentage of votes a candidate would need to be re-elected and he wanted to initiate a law allowing the candidate to add a vice president onto the same ticket.  The people knew lowering the number of votes would basically solidify Wade’s reeelection and they also knew that he planned to give his son, Karim, the vice presidential nomination.  Angered by this deception, the people rose up to fight the threat against their democracy and went so far as to demand that Wade “resign“.  Although he did not resign, Wade answered to the pressure from the people and withdrew his proposals.  He realized the people were right and that he was being unreasonable.  He felt guilty. 

Guilt tends to curiously disappear once a person reaches a powerful position.  Jack, from Golding’s classic novel Lord of the Flies, despised the fact that Ralph had been elected leader.  He decided to break off from Ralph’s authority and form his own group of hunters to lead.  The power slowly went to his head and contributed to two boys’ death on the island.  In his madness, he would have killed Ralph too had the Captain not rescued them literally seconds before the forest burned down.  When all the boys saw the Captain, they noticed all their handmade spears and the pig blood covering their faces, and they broke down, crying.  They felt guilty.

Where is the voice of reason to save us from this corrupt atmosphere we accept as the norm?  Where is the guilty conscience?  I don’t mean the guilt of getting arrested for theft or the Catholic guilt of constantly walking on eggshells all the way to heaven.  I’m talking about genuine guilt, the kind that itches the bottom of your stomach and chokes your chest in knots.  The guilt when you’ve forgotten to tip the waiter, or when you’ve snuck in a bag of homemade chocolates to the movie theater.  Guilt is clouded behind the siren call of power, money, beauty: greed.  Instead of remorse, there is a false sense of reassurance with the mindset: “Yes I did something wrong, but it’s worth it.  I deserve whatever instant gratification this will bring me, however, I don’t deserve the consequences because I’m better than the law.”  As Richard Nixon taught us, no one is above the law, yet people are always willing to test the limits.  What I’ve learned the hard way is you can’t eat your cake and expect the calories to magically evaporate too.  I applaud the people of Senegal for reminding President Wade what cake tastes like.

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Faber and Faber.  17 September 1954.  Print.  <http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Flies-William-Golding/dp/0571200532/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309186571&sr=1-1>

Nossiter, Adam.  “After Protests, Senegal’s President Backs Off Election Change.”  The New York Times.  Website.  23 June 2011.  <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/world/africa/24senegal.html?ref=senegal>

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