Validation Seeker
Esther 1:7 Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other, and the royal wine was abundant, in keeping with the king’s liberality.
What caught my attention was ‘each golden wine glasses were different from each other?’ Imagine! Vanity is at its peak! I look at king Ahasuerus as a ‘validation seeker’ who tried to impress his people with his display of wealth and thereby gain authority. I read about a woman actress who never repeats her saree, everyday she wears a new one, I feel this is absolutely crazy addiction. A confident person does not need to use clothes or things to prove his superiority, when you are filled with good stuff on the inside, you don’t need ‘materials’ for validation. Anybody listening? I am speaking to people who spend recklessly on branded clothes and electronic gadgets in order to gel with the world. Not necessary…..
Earlier we read in verse 4 that already 180 days of this ‘insane celebration’ was over and now they were in the final week-long party for all the people in Susa. I was doing an inch by inch study of the details of this country, the king, his nobles and the environment that they lived in. Having indulged in such booze party for this many days, imagine how their brain would be!
We run Abide School, free school for the underprivileged children in Hyderabad, India, most of the children are either with single parents or with alcoholic parents. Two days back I received a call late in the evening from a drunk father, blabbering about some leave for his student, I replied him to disconnect the phone and speak to me the next day. His two children studying in our School are excellent kids, with good manners and they study excellently well. The boy told me that his dad drinks daily and keeps blabbering at home and some times that escalates into fight too. Interacting with such families on a daily basis, chapter one from the Book of Esther just gave me the inside story of the palace which actually looked like it was opulent and affluent with wine glasses that were unique and were not similar, alcohol was running like water and they were all saturated with senseless bliss. No wonder later we read that the city of Susa was in confusion - Esther 3:15! Confusion comes from carelessness and recklessness! Anybody listening?
The price of vanity is actually huge, as I mentioned above, king Ahasuerus was a ruler of a last empire of 127 provinces but he was unable to control his temper and thereby took some decisions that led him to the loss of queen Vashti. Refusal of Vashti to come before a drunk crowd was perceived by the king as a ‘direct threat to his self-esteem.’ While reading this portion, I wrote the following words:
HASTY DECISION TAKEN FROM A NASTY CONDITION WOULD CAUSE DRASTIC DESTRUCTION!
Friend, today we see the same display of wealth, not because people need them, but they buy it under tremendous stress and risk, just to add them to their kitty. Why buy a second car on loan when the loan for your first car is still pending? Bank mangers very manipulatively seduce customers into taking multiple loans and thereby reach their targets. Why have week long wedding celebrations, why go on foreign vacations with heavy loans when you are already neck-deep in debts? Aping the vanity of the secular world will take you downhill, when we mirror the "vanity" of the world, we trade our internal values for external approval which is of no value!
