Dragging A President By The Collar

No less a president than the French Sarkozy suffered this demeaning
act a couple of days ago. Being so accustomed to the cosmetic smiles
with which politicians greet their subjects and the reciprocal cheery
waves that the privileged security-cleared few are wont to deliver,
the French leader was for brief moment at a loss as he was
unexpectedly pulled by his lapel by a 32 year old man. Obviously, his
security personnel must have satisfied themselves that there was no
danger with the individuals that were there to shake the president's
hand. Alas, they didn't bargain for what was waiting for them. How
would they have known what was lurking in the young man's mind. Was it
not Shakespeare that said that there is no art for knowing the mind's
construction from the human face.
Science hasn't been able to help us determine with exact certainty the
thoughts of those around us. And so long as it remains that way,
expenditure on security and defence both by governments and
individuals, will not know a downward trend any time soon. But that
isn't my purpose here. My main concern is to ask: why do we have so
much hatred in contemporary times? And as existence continues, it
appears that inter-personal animosity is on the rise?

Even when we pretend that we are loving folks, the reality of your
capabilities at generating hatred comes to the fore whenever we are
contradicted.

That is exactly what happened to Sarkozy. By via single pull by the
shirt, the president is taken away from the life he has known
consistently in the past couple of years to one he must have abandoned
a long time before he knew he might become president. The look that
momentarily appeared on his face at the time before his assailant was
fretted away by his security aides, tells a lot about his discomfiture
at the attack.

Now let's look at the situation closely. Can you imagine Sarkozy not
being a president and then a until stranger accosts him in that
embarassing way. What do you think his response will be? My point,
being a president could mean that you don't get to do what you want to
do or respond to situations the way you would have preferred. Methinks
it would have been much more fun to have seen at least a few fist
cuffs between the two. Just wish elections weren't around the corner
and the far rights weren't proving to be so strong an opposition.
Perhaps we would have been obliged with the first ever public
presidential physicals:

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