The Kingdom

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, in an age long forgotten, there was a kingdom. It was a small kingdom, but yet a great and powerful kingdom, with fortresses reaching nearly to heaven.

The strength of this kingdom was in its king. He was a strong man, known for his fairness as well as his unselfish love for the people of his kingdom. The king was a man of great stature who wore long, flowing garments of linen covered by a majestic multicolored robe. This robe was no ordinary robe. At times it appeared to be blue in color...a blue that was more clear than the sky on a bright, sun filled day. In the next instant, the robe might display a bright red, or a dark purple. Occasionally, the robe would appear as a pure white which rivaled the freshly fallen snow. There were other times that the color given off by this magnificent garment could not be described by the people who saw it, for they had nothing with which to compare its splendor.

It was truly a wonderful robe, worn by this king in this kingdom long forgotten.

With the passing years, the people of this kingdom lived securely under the rule of their king, for no enemy dared to challenge the power of this empire. The people of the kingdom held the king in highest esteem. They would bow before him as he walked among them in the cool of the evening, always wearing his multicolored robe. They worshiped him out of love and respect, rather than fear, for they knew of his great love for them. But, it was also true, that as they gazed upon this indescribable robe, they perceived that the man wearing it was worthy of their honor and praise.

Yes, they loved their king, these people of this kingdom in an age long forgotten.

As time passed, a faction arose within the kingdom claiming that the king's robe gave off only a red color. It was indeed a beautiful red they asserted, but red all the same. Actually, to be precise, their charter did allow for slight variations of the color red but stopped short of acknowledging anything close to pink.

Well, this caused quite a stir in this little kingdom, and before long another faction had banded together claiming the king's robe was blue. They had witnesses that had seen the king's robe as blue, as well as evidence from the kingdom books which described the king's robe as blue. They felt as if they had a clear mandate to rid the kingdom of the people who saw the king's robe as red.

As you can well imagine, before long the kingdom was divided into no less than fifty groups declaring their own color as the color of the king's robe. The red believer's would have banquets honoring the king, but the blue believers would not attend....nor would any of the other forty-eight groups of color worshipers. The blue believers would bow before the king as he walked about his kingdom in the cool of the evening, but only when his robe was showing the appropriate shade of blue. They would, however, find themselves bowing alone, for the red believers would never bow when the robe was blue.

Yes, they loved their king, but hated each other, these people in this kingdom in an age long forgotten.

When the enemies of this kingdom saw the division among the people of the empire, they were determined to take advantage of this weakness and prepared to attack. They hit the walls of the fortress with every weapon they possessed, and slowly the walls began to crumble. The enemy sent wave after wave of men over the tumbling walls in its attempt to conquer the little kingdom. They met no resistance. The people of the kingdom were arguing so loudly among themselves that they failed to hear the enemy upon the walls. They had their eyes fixed so steadily upon each other, and upon the king's robe...in anticipation of it showing their color....that they did not see the adversary coming through the gates.

As the kingdom was about to be destroyed and fall to the enemy, the king appeared, as if from nowhere, leading a handful of his faithful servants prepared for battle. These were the servants who had not been involved in the color controversy. They had worshiped the king regardless of the robe or its color, for they realized the power was in the king and not his robe. They pushed the enemy back over the wall and into the surrounding country. The battle raged for several days as the king and his warriors stood against the onslaught of this fierce enemy.

When, at last, the enemy was defeated, the king stood alone in the silence following the battle. He lovingly gazed at his wounded and dead soldiers. From the direction of the kingdom he heard the sound of people loudly debating. He could not make out every word, but a few were clear... "red"..."blue." Tears streamed down the king's face, and the robe gave off a color it had never displayed before as the king went to his faithful warriors.. He touched the wounded, and they were healed. He cradled the dead in his arms, and they began to breathe.

The king and his men slowly walked through the dead of the enemy in a direction opposite the fallen fortress. He had decided to build a new kingdom using these faithful men who had fought beside him as its foundation.

In the end, it was for the best.

You see, the first kingdom was so busy discussing the color of the king's robe that they didn't miss the king.