There once was a place that flourished with great bounty.  Fields of wheat blew softly in the wind as corn pushed its way through the fertile soil. There were those who lived in poverty, not by choice.  The division in the two classes of rich and poor was wide and those in the middle remained stagnant.  They worked hard to achieve wealth.  They spent money like they had it. They lived out of their means, but for a time they were happy.

Their leader was different than any they had before.  He was controversial.  He said things that made no sense to the legislators or representatives, but he wasn’t like them at all.  He made his fortune in the world of business.  He wasn’t a king or a dictator. He was a man who worked his way up the ladder of success and knew how to delegate jobs to those who knew what they were doing.  He had an air of arrogance about him, but he was also confident.  Sometimes confidence comes off as arrogance, so his attempts at running the country seemed narcissistic to many. They didn’t like this new way of running things.  They didn’t like being judged for their own political influence.  They didn’t like being reminded what they had become.

The leader began his job by fulfilling many of the claims he made during his time before being chosen to rule.  From the beginning of his tenure, he was criticized, made fun of, harassed by those who thought he wasn’t fit for the job. He was investigated, interrogated, attacked, bullied and eventually put on trial.  During the entire time, he continued to run the country.  He slept little, but maintained his energy.  He fought back with words equally critical as those who accused him of wrong doing.   This behavior was also considered unseemly for his position.

Then everything came to a halt.  A little germ created chaos all over the world.  People were told to stay in their homes until this virus was conquered.  Not since 1918 had a disease of such magnitude covered the world.  People were confined to their homes.  They had to resort to things like educating their children, being creative, finding outlets for their energy.  They turned to reading some of the books that had collected dust on the shelves.  They even opened their Bibles.  Many thought that was a waste of valuable time, but many had not laid their eyes on those words before.

During the time of the current pandemic, weeks of waiting turned into months and at last the pandemic came to an end.  People were finally allowed to leave their homes and get back to their workplaces.  Schools reopened and kids were actually excited to be back in the classroom.  Restaurants, concerts, theatre performances, art galleries and sporting events were again available to them.  They could hug again. They could work again.  They could live again. It all went back to normal, or did it?

Is that the end of the story?