Of Guards and Guardians

 

Who will guard the guards?

That’s a question often asked

And the answer oft not forthcoming

Leaves an unfulfilling task.

 

And what about the guardians?

Another answer often sought,

And that too oft not forthcoming

Leaves us even more distraught.

 

Of guards and guardians

Are they both exactly the same?

No they are subtly different

They are on different planes.

 

Guards are usually on the lower end

A building or some property,

Guardians on the other hand

Are more involved with destiny.

 

Guards mostly operate at nights

Or when very few people are around,

They watch when others are sleeping

Or at least are lying down.

 

Oft the owners of these properties

Cannot get enough of sleep,

Their minds are so disturbed

That sleep becomes a treat.

 

Guards are paid little money

And their lives are always at risk,

Restricted to where they watch

They are at the lower end of the list.

 

Guardians are more hifalutin

Theirs is a higher calling,

They hold the keys to people’s lives

And around them much is revolving.

 

 

They are not security guards

In the sense of watching a property

But maintaining a way of life

And in such must be exemplary.

 

The quality of a people’s life

Is highly dependent on them,

Pastors, teachers and politicians

Are prominent in this realm.

 

These are guardians of morality

In the country and the church

And when they’re absent from their post

Many are left to lurch.

 

There is definitely no comparison

Between one’s life and material gain

Even though a lack of the latter

Can cause some distress and pain.

 

Regarding guards and guardians

There is also no comparison

For while one protects our property

The other informs our decisions.

 

Decisions about life in general

Decisions about our spirituality

Decisions re: education and development

Decisions about the economy

 

Decisions regarding our children

And the future of our country

Decisions about our relationships

At the personal level and community

 

Hence regarding guards and guardians

They are vastly different

And this difference goes much further

Than the money that’s on either spent.

 

The latter protects a whole lot more

There is far more at stake

Hence the need to choose more carefully

For we’re all guardians of our estate.

 

“Strict guardians of our heritage

Firm craftsmen of our fate”,

Our national anthem is clearly explicit

In all that this implicates.

 

Stewart Russell © August 2018