Power Trips Will Be Punished

The slaughter of a farm girl's goat and a poor man's ewe

Last year in California, a 9-year-old girl raised a goat with the intent of selling it for slaughter at a county fair but reneged on her deal with the local 4-H. The state senator who won the auction was fine with donating the goat to keep a farmer’s weeds at bay. The 4-H insisted that the goat be slaughtered and dispatched law enforcement.

The dispute is now the subject of a lawsuit and a flurry of news coverage that rightly portrays 4-H officials as the bad guys. Most anyone who hears the story will instinctively take the side of the girl against governing authorities on a power trip. Even if the child was wrong by the letter of 4-H auction law, the right thing to do was to accept the reasonable compromise.

The dynamics at play in this story are similar to those in the parable that the prophet Nathan told to prick King David’s godly heart to repentance (II Samuel 12:1-15).

Photo by Bailey Mahon on Unsplash