(credit: Varsha Salome)
Oh, the artless Queen of Sheba!
Sometimes we have difficulty believing the best of others. Yes, we have heard their fame and are reconciled to the idea that there must be something to it. But we cannot bring ourselves to accept that their greatness in reality far surpasses their reputation; that they are outstanding, fantastic, almost out of the world! We are rather comfortable with the notion that “yes, they may be better than we, but not by much” and we soothe our id thinking that “with a little effort, there is no reason why we cannot do what they have achieved”.
Enter the Queen of Sheba! She too had her reservations when she came to personally prove king Solomon’s greatness and his fabled wisdom. But to her credit, she made no effort to belittle or downplay his stupendous splendour once she came face to face with it. For a queen – of equal rank – she was completely artless in her comments. The record says “there was no more spirit in her”.
Are we capable of praising others whole heartedly?
____________________________________________________________
*6 January 2023, setting 1 January as Day 1