December 14, 2018

I stayed home sick from work today, and just now finished a pleasing little Agatha Christie mystery. Near the end, Poirot cites the well-known proverb, commonly referred to as "For Want Of A Nail."

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the message was lost.

For want of a message the battle was lost.

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

'Tis a tidy little proverb, succinctly capturing the importance of detail.  And it absolutely bears no value on today's world.  It seems to me the proverb needs to be turned on its head to capture the power struggles that dominate our headlines.

For want of a kingdom the battle was cast.

For want of a battle the message was cast.

For want of a message the rider was cast.

For want of a rider the horse was cast.

For want of a horse the shoe was cast.

For want of a shoe the nail was cast.

And all for the cast of a kingdom.

Or to put it in more modern metaphorical parlance:

For want of a kingdom the wall was cast.

For want of a wall the threat was cast.

For want of a threat the story was cast.

For want of the story the spin was cast.

For want of the spin the thread was cast.

For want of the thread the lie was cast.

And for all the cast of a kingdom.

However, the problems with humankind go much deeper than any versions of this proverb strike, and these problems have been prevalent for thousands of years.  I started thinking about want in general. 

For want of want the want was sought.

For want of the want the fault was sought.

For want of the fault the blemish was sought.

For want of the blemish the knife was sought.

For want of the knife the carver was sought.

For want of the carver our creator was sought.

And all in the name of want.

Wow, this is either really deep or really stupid. Depending upon a reader's opinion, we can either thank or blame it on Robitussin.