Ruminations on the Trappings of Power and our Pale Blue Dot

Aweh fellow Ruminants & Groupies in day 395 of Re-Modified Lock Down Currently Level 1.

Period as a semi-retired pensioner: 23 days

This week the topic for Ruminant Pink Friday™ is the trappings of power. The trappings of power, wealth, or a particular job are the extra things, such as decorations and luxury items, that go with it. One of the comments I have received on my numerous references to private lifts for top executives is that I should expand my energies beyond the private lift. This set me to thinking about the trappings of power, why they exist, what role they play and their importance.

To initiate the conversation, I am going to start with the pale blue dot image from Carl Sagan’s book of the same name. This is an image taken by the Voyager space craft as it left the solar system, and the pale blue dot is the earth.

Sagan had this to say:

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturing’s, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves”.

This is an extremely passionate plea for us to be humble and for us to cooperate, look after each other and just be sensible and decent.

Where do the trappings of power fit into this? How does my immaculate BMW feature? What image do I project to the increasing number of threadbare beggars at every traffic light in Johannesburg? Did I not earn my BMW? Am I not entitled to it? Is it not just a 3 series? What about people with Bentley’s?

The trappings of power are a very clear manifestation of your position in the dominance hierarchy. You worked hard to get to the top of the hierarchy, and it cost you your first marriage. Now you deserve the trophy spouse and there is no better way to attract this species than the trappings of power. Once you have attracted a suitable trophy based on how magnificent and powerful you are the expectations are very clearly set and there are standards to be maintained. You also need to compete with your peers who are constantly raising the bar. You don’t want to look cheap.

This then brings me to some thoughts about going beyond the private lift. In these post Covid days with the increasing trend of working from home the trophy head office building is increasingly insufficiently occupied. What to do with the extra space? The private lift is way too limited and reflects a severe lack of imagination. One needs to find productive uses for this space.

A productive concept is to create an appropriately appointed executive spa. Although this will be reserved for executives and their trophy spouses one does need to consider those lower down in the hierarchy.  Two lucky non-executive staff members a month can be chosen (based on their screen time) to get a chance to relax in the executive spa for an hour (evenings only). The rest of the staff won’t miss out: they will have the chance to take a video tour of the spa, including the Olympic swimming pool and hot tubs, at any time to see what could be in store if they are sufficiently devoted.

The trappings of power are aspirational. If you can claw your way to the top the private jet, the blue light brigade, the private chef etc. are there to consider. You will only be limited by your imagination, the ever-increasing demands of your trophy spouse and what your peers are doing. Those below you will admire you and dream of following in your footsteps one day.

Thank you for your ideas and comments.

Regards

Bruce