In Zenobia –
Birth of a Legend, chapter eleven, on her visit to the Temple of the Sun
she confronts a Priest with a burning question.
When they descended to the temple’s main
level, the same priest who had unlocked the tower access for them met them
again. Zelina gave him a donation. Zenobia tugged at her mother’s robe and
said, “Ask him, Mother.”
“Ask him what, dear?”
“You know. What we talked about this
morning.” The issue had been churning in the back of her mind since their visit
to the judicial building, and now she wanted an answer. Hadn’t her mother said
that perhaps the priests would know? She had discerned that the question would
be better received coming from an adult.
“O.” she turned to the priest and asked,
“My daughter and I were wondering, does the sun god care about the injustice in
the world?”
The priest was surprised and just looked
at them while he pondered the import of their question. He decided that
questions like this had the potential to be dangerous. Finally, he replied in a
condescending tone, “It is not for women and girls to concern themselves with
such matters. That is the business of the priests.”
Instantly, the fire of curiosity in
Zenobia flared up into indignation. “Justice is the business of all of us! And
if the gods care about us, they should care about justice!”
“Zenobia!” Her mother saw what was coming
and tried to interrupt her, but she was like a hungry leopard running down its
prey.
“But if they do not care about us, then
they do not deserve our worship, nor our…,” the rest of her words were muffled
by her mother’s hand clamped firmly over her mouth!
…..This
mollified the priest only a little. He said, “It seems you have more than
enough to occupy you in taming your little wildcat. Leave questions of theology
to the experts!” He turned sharply and walked briskly away. He intended to
speak to Odenathus about this effrontery.
Zenobia looked at her mother, who had
crossed her arms and was glaring at her daughter with her sternest expression.
“Mistake?” Zenobia asked rhetorically.
“All this from a girl who only two hours
ago told me, ‘don’t worry, Mother, I’m careful!’ Let’s get out of here before
we get stoned.”
The quest for justice is an inspiration through-out Zenobia’s life.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere." Martin Luther King Jr.
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