It is said that bantering between Winston Churchill
and Lady Astor was rife and quite often amusing. The infamous quote where Lady
Astor said, “Winston if you were my husband, I would poison your tea.” and,
Winston in reply said, “Madam if you were my wife, I would drink it.” is quite amusing but, in fact very close to home. When I think of the male role models I have had over the years, two of the three, remind me of the
desperation and confusion that must have gone through their minds as to whether
to drink the potion, or not! To say this confusion played a big part in their
lives is an understatement.
Two vibrant, articulate, handsome men caught in
a web of a very evil, conniving, self-centered, ogre of a woman. Two self-reliant
men, capable of anything yet, vulnerable to their own detriment. Two men who nursed, cared for, and loved
their first wives to the end. Two strong men , both fragile enough to fall prey
to a spider so calculating, able to draw them into her web of deceit and
lies. Two men, who did nothing, to
deserve this fate. Two men, whose only thoughts
were to love, and to be loved in return.
The first of these three men escaped from the
web but, not without battle fatigue or, without the sting that she would
inflict on him. Yes indeed he escaped her
clutches, but to do so he suffered dearly, but he kept strong with the love that
he had to offer. Even she could not take that love that was in his heart. Yes,
he was younger, stronger and found someone that would love him and be with him
to this day. However, the love that he
found, created a stronger deadlier venom
in the evil spider from whom he escaped - a venom that one can only fear. Fear and stay clear of her webs.
From the very day he left her life, her rampage
of terror gained momentum. From that
very day she gathered allies. She gathered them to connect by a mutual relationship,
a resemblance to friendship, and once she had gained their strength she would
devour their very being, and cast them from her side forever.
She developed a very cunning persona. Outwardly
she was the pillar of society, the pillar of the church, the pillar of
compassion and caring, but her victims fell into her poisonous web. The victims, or people she cared for, would
be stripped of their nearest and dearest, stripped of their possessions and
totally dependent on the spider. Then, as
sure as the sun rises, they would be stripped of their lives.
The two men had no chance. They could not see nor foretell their
fate. This black widow spider was about
to serve them tea and they had no choice but to drink it. When each of the two men entered into her life, she devoured their prior
existence, she excluded friends, family, and the very things that indeed gave
them pleasure, their sport, their books, their computers, their love for
others. She possessed their minds and in
so doing convinced those around them that she was indeed the carer, the lover,
the wife.
Both of these two men both begged to know why
they were in this situation. Alas the
convincing spider gained control of their medications, their activities and
their bank balances. After all it was not
difficult at this point to convince them that their only activity was to visit
another doctor, to find yet another disability that drew them closer to their
death.
So convincing is she, that right to the end, she
would strip them of their minds, their sight and their hearing, all in order to
keep her web intact. At the end she
would draw on her rent a crowd of friends (all of whom were as deceitful as
she) to cover her tracks so as not to lose traction to her lies and deceit. In doing
so, would leave a path of broken friends and family to wonder how anyone could
act with such evil in her heart. (A heart made of stone)
These two men died in a delirium of wonder, both
suffering more than during their time in military service, both wondering what
they had done to deserve this in their final days. Both begged to drink that tea and go over the
mountain to a new life. The third man is
bruised and frail now, but knows that he will pass in the arms of a woman who
is the love of his life, a woman that has given him his heart back and a woman
who returns his love, a woman who cares deeply.
To all three men I offer you peace. To the two men already gone, I pray you will
find your friends and family in the next life.
I pray that those friends and family will take you in their arms and
give you comfort as has the thirds man’s wife.
I pray that you will wake from your slumber of pain and find wings of
angels and fly. As for me, I miss you
all dearly. And as I sort my way through this seemingly drunken debacle, if I
was ever to see this woman again, I know as Bessie Braddock said to Winston,
the scene would be set for her from me.
This spider’s words would be those of Bessie Braddock and they would be
“Winston you are Drunk” and I would say to her as Winston said “Yes, madam I am
drunk, but tomorrow you will still be ugly, very ugly and evil.”
