Times of Change

I finished the book Nefertiti. Though it is difficult to know all the details of a life lived so far in the past the author did a good job of investigating Nefertiti's life as far as anyone can know. She was a woman of courage and also of intense ego. However, she became Queen of Egypt at fifteen years old and began having children soon after. We might say these days when children in our society remain children far in to their teens, "What would a teenager know about ruling a country?!" She was the second wife of Amunhotep IV who also was in his teens when he became Emperor of Egypt and together they had six daughters, built the vast city of Amarna and presided over troubled times when their decisions brought down the revered priests of Amun and raised up a sun disk priesthood. Nefertiti and Amunhotep had the faces of themselves and their family carved and painted on every surface in the city and spared no expense to continually remind the common people who the supreme rulers were.

I suppose, not surprisingly, this extravagance in both physical wealth and in what seems to have been a level of moral bankruptcy, ended in a horrific time that changed Amarna forever. Amunhotep refused to deal with uprisings and instead made a deal with the Hittites, a long-time enemy of the Egyptians. When these people were invited to Amarna for another grand feast and celebration of Nefertiti and Amunhotep's reign, they also brought the plague with them. The city was beset with death. Amunhotep never understood what had happened and Nefertiti tried her best to return Egypt to her former glory following his death. That was not to happen in her lifetime, not entirely.

All stories like Nefertiti are cautionary tales because they are stories about us - about human beings in their time and with all their attendant problems and joys. We read about them making decisions, choosing, leaving, having and raising children, being petty, jealous, swept away by love, angry or just tending their garden wishing for a peaceful life. They were no different than you and me. They are cautionary tales because of just that - we are like them!

Nefertiti and Amunhotep were young people who became powerful beyond their wisdom, even though as we know that doesn't always mean things will go well. They forgot the common people and only gave them thought when they wished to know the common people worshiped them. The emperor and his queen wanted to be seen by the people every minute of their lives and they wanted to live beyond eternity. Their care for and belief in the common people of their time was thin, it was not built upon an understanding that the people who fell at their feet had lives that also mattered. When the plague came to Amarna the common people suffered by the thousands. Still, Nefertiti and Amunhotep thought only of themselves and of who would ascend the throne if they perished.

History gives us myriad examples of Power Gone Wrong, of concentrated power in the hands of people whose egos are far too large. We've seen this in our own country and perhaps we are seeing versions of that in the current time. Power, money, prestige and the desire for more. Those are addictions that warp our abilities for compassion and truth.

May we the common people see with clarity in this time of change. Who has the best interest of all at heart, who is telling the truth and who is maneuvering for advantage. These lessons and cautions did not slip in to the sands of time at the feet of the Sphinx, they are ever present in human interactions.

Power To All The Common People!