Ave Testudo

In the 1980's, I went to an EST seminar led by its founder, Werner Erhard. A heckler who was not satisfied with the program kept trying to enter the hall and disrupt the proceedings. Mr. Erhard's "security" team of men and women streamed out of the audience and went into action, surrounding the person while sticking out their chests to take up more space and encapsulate him in their testudo formation. Without any verbal abuse, they slowly backed him out the door and locked it.

Until now, I thought this was singular. However, watching Pope Francis since his installation has made me aware of just how it is possible for the "meek" to inherit the earth. He is very quietly cleaning house in an organization of almost unfathomable dimensions and a global sphere of influence reaching back two thousand years.

In the past, I felt that the adage about the meek inheriting the earth was some nonsensical advice people taught girls or minorities to keep them out of the way of censure, harm, or even success in an assertive and sometimes devastatingly cruel world, an adage passed on with good intentions or bad.

Now, I see a nascent coalescence of people who fight by not fighting in the violent sense. Will this be a new, global strategy for encapsulating evil and backing it out of the meeting hall? If so, it opens a bigger idea, such as heralding the beginning - or end - of Armaggedon and the beginning of the thousand year peace.

In a more secular realm of thought, perhaps it will open the door to a global good, on the order of the spread of trade or democracy; the spread of the focused, active waging of peace.

Either way, an incredible feat for a tortoise.