Halo to the Taoiseach

These two photos were taken years apart. What they have in common is the eye of the photographer and the fact that they were both taken while their respective subjects held the office of Taoiseach.

Were we living in a primitive culture, God forbid, and had we come across such images, we would surely think these people were half way, at least, to becoming Gods in their own time.

What else might we surmise. Perhaps, as Gods in waiting in the great seminary of life, they might have been seen as not needing guardian angels.

And that is clearly where the mistake was made.

If Bertie had had a guardian angel, and with all due respect to Miriam and Celia, would he have bypassed the openess of a bank account and ended up with two stashes of cash in safes in Drumcondra and Merrion St.? Would he have let Grainne Carruth take the hit for him in front of the gawking nation? Would he have attempted, following the tradition of Hercules, and a number of French Presidents, to build a large and permanent monument to himself, the Bertie Bowl?

If Enda had a guardian angel would he have: launched such a badly thought through attack on the Vatican which included an actual misrepresentation of the words of the Pope from an earlier existence? Would he have made promises on the record on which he will not deliver? Would he have announced so many green shoots and turning corners that only some 3% of the people have any trust left in politicians.

So you see the road to sainthood is not strewn with myrtles or roses or any other smelly plants. It is an obstacle course where the subject is tempted again and again to surrender to that same hubris that got Lucifer banished to the basement.

I would like to thank the Irish Times (for Bertie) and the Irish Independent (for Enda) whose pictures I have shameless stolen in a good cause.