Counting down to a real government????
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little country Belgium full of beautiful historic cities reflecting a dynamic past. The king was at the head of the state, but all political decisions had to be taken by a group of knights (backed up by the big wise council) sitting at the round table in law street. The citizens of this beautiful little country were not all speaking the same language. A slight majority living in the north, speaks Dutch whereas the capital and the south of the country was Frenchspeaking. Occasionally this caused some discussions but all in all this was a very peaceful country well known for its gastronomy, culture, hardworking people and joie-de-vivre.
After a while some knights thought it would be better when some decisions could be taken at a regional level because the needs of the 2 different population groups were different. There were knights who loved to be at the top of the power in their own region, therefore they strived towards a split-up of the country. Slowly the beautiful little country evolved to a federal state: depending on the matter decisions could be taken at regional or national level and this beautiful little country was admired in the world for its compromise finding skills.
After a while there were not very many organisations in this beautiful little country that worked across this invisible language border. Even politics and institutional structures had evolved over the last decades into a federal state with political parties reprenting either the northern part of the country or the southern part of the country. With a few exeptions of course, these people didn't interact a lot anymore, they watched seperate tv shows, ... And life went on peacefully in this beautiful little country.
From time to time the proud citizens of this beautiful little country organised federal elections to vote who would be in the wise council and which knights would sit at the round table in law street. In both country parts ambitious knights prepared their campaign to explain their vision on the future of this beautiful little country. Some spread the word that the northern people would be better off at their own. Since there was not much interaction anymore, their words were hard to check. Other knights agreed that structural reform in the state would be benificial for all citizens. Others claimed that this wasn't the most urgent issue for this beautiful little country.
Elections came and in the north a knight Y. got elected with great success and it seemed obvious that he would lead the country. He had promised better government and a big political structural reform as a condition to his leadership in law street. But forming a group of knights for the wise round table wasn't so simple. The southern knights didn't like his promise for a big political structural reform, other knights opposed the presence of others again, befriended knights seemed to have too great demands to enable a compromise, .... The king assigned multiple consultants but the situation was totally blocked. Knight Y. who had promised a better government, did not succeed in forming a congruent group of knights. The people who had remained fairly quiet in the first weeks was loosing its patience and the multiple stories that the troubadours were telling about the knights weren't very positive anymore.
After months and months the king was desperate and he invited the previous leading knight G. for advice, even though Knight G had lost the elections. He contacted the knights with whom he had collaborated the previous years as well as knight Y. Tensions rose, discussions were hard, but in the end they came to an agreement. Despite the electoral defeat, Knight G. would preceed for another 3 months at the wise round table in law street. They would take the most urgent decisions and in the mean time the new real government for the wise round table would be negotiated by Knight Y. as well as the big structural reform that it would need to happen. But in the mean time Knight Y. and his friends would sit at the wise round table already on the condition that a big structural reform would be agreed within the next 3 months.
It was a Christmas miracle for the beautiful little country. The people in this beautiful little country could sleep again for now and everything settled down again for a few weeks. The troubadours didn't hear much new gossip about the ongoing negotiations, but they sang songs about the vicious fights that would have happened among the different knights that wanted to sit in law street. They were not pretty songs. They also amused themselves by singing songs with the adventures of the new ambitious knight P. who seemed to stumble over his own feet all the time in his ambitious rush to undo all his predecessor's decisions. But it remained quiet for a while about the negotiations that the knight Y. had to lead.
Until all of a sudden a rumour spread through the country: knight Y had become seriously ill. The local healers couldn't help him and he was brought in all speed to the tophealers in the country. Was this a sign that knight Y could no manage physically the top position he was after for so long?? Was the agreement between knight G. and knight Y. still valid or whould knight G need to stay longer in law street? In his absence the close friends from Knight Y continued the negotiations about the big structural reform whereas others worked on the country's finances. But some knights didn't want to collaborate at all for a financial budget agreement before there was an agreement in the big structural reform. So while knight Y. was slowly getting better under supervision of wise healers, his friends worked very hard and silently on an agreement for the big structural reform he had promised.
Just before the deadline, they did reach an agreement...of some very small reforms and the promise that all knights would work on a bigger structural reform in the next 3 months. And if that last thing would not happen Knight Y. and his friends would leave the wise round table in law street after 3 months. Nevertheless some of knight Y's close friends wasn't too impressed with the agreement and decided not to sit at the wise round table. The other knights on their turn weren't too impressed as their representation in the big council would not be optimal anymore. Everyone started blaming everyond for not being loyal.
In the mean time knight Y. had left the supervision of the wise healers and will return to his friends at the wise round table in law street, which is still being preceded by knight G. for another couple of weeks. Will all the knights come to a true agreement before their self-set deadline would expire?
After a while some knights thought it would be better when some decisions could be taken at a regional level because the needs of the 2 different population groups were different. There were knights who loved to be at the top of the power in their own region, therefore they strived towards a split-up of the country. Slowly the beautiful little country evolved to a federal state: depending on the matter decisions could be taken at regional or national level and this beautiful little country was admired in the world for its compromise finding skills.
After a while there were not very many organisations in this beautiful little country that worked across this invisible language border. Even politics and institutional structures had evolved over the last decades into a federal state with political parties reprenting either the northern part of the country or the southern part of the country. With a few exeptions of course, these people didn't interact a lot anymore, they watched seperate tv shows, ... And life went on peacefully in this beautiful little country.
From time to time the proud citizens of this beautiful little country organised federal elections to vote who would be in the wise council and which knights would sit at the round table in law street. In both country parts ambitious knights prepared their campaign to explain their vision on the future of this beautiful little country. Some spread the word that the northern people would be better off at their own. Since there was not much interaction anymore, their words were hard to check. Other knights agreed that structural reform in the state would be benificial for all citizens. Others claimed that this wasn't the most urgent issue for this beautiful little country.
Elections came and in the north a knight Y. got elected with great success and it seemed obvious that he would lead the country. He had promised better government and a big political structural reform as a condition to his leadership in law street. But forming a group of knights for the wise round table wasn't so simple. The southern knights didn't like his promise for a big political structural reform, other knights opposed the presence of others again, befriended knights seemed to have too great demands to enable a compromise, .... The king assigned multiple consultants but the situation was totally blocked. Knight Y. who had promised a better government, did not succeed in forming a congruent group of knights. The people who had remained fairly quiet in the first weeks was loosing its patience and the multiple stories that the troubadours were telling about the knights weren't very positive anymore.
After months and months the king was desperate and he invited the previous leading knight G. for advice, even though Knight G had lost the elections. He contacted the knights with whom he had collaborated the previous years as well as knight Y. Tensions rose, discussions were hard, but in the end they came to an agreement. Despite the electoral defeat, Knight G. would preceed for another 3 months at the wise round table in law street. They would take the most urgent decisions and in the mean time the new real government for the wise round table would be negotiated by Knight Y. as well as the big structural reform that it would need to happen. But in the mean time Knight Y. and his friends would sit at the wise round table already on the condition that a big structural reform would be agreed within the next 3 months.
It was a Christmas miracle for the beautiful little country. The people in this beautiful little country could sleep again for now and everything settled down again for a few weeks. The troubadours didn't hear much new gossip about the ongoing negotiations, but they sang songs about the vicious fights that would have happened among the different knights that wanted to sit in law street. They were not pretty songs. They also amused themselves by singing songs with the adventures of the new ambitious knight P. who seemed to stumble over his own feet all the time in his ambitious rush to undo all his predecessor's decisions. But it remained quiet for a while about the negotiations that the knight Y. had to lead.
Until all of a sudden a rumour spread through the country: knight Y had become seriously ill. The local healers couldn't help him and he was brought in all speed to the tophealers in the country. Was this a sign that knight Y could no manage physically the top position he was after for so long?? Was the agreement between knight G. and knight Y. still valid or whould knight G need to stay longer in law street? In his absence the close friends from Knight Y continued the negotiations about the big structural reform whereas others worked on the country's finances. But some knights didn't want to collaborate at all for a financial budget agreement before there was an agreement in the big structural reform. So while knight Y. was slowly getting better under supervision of wise healers, his friends worked very hard and silently on an agreement for the big structural reform he had promised.
Just before the deadline, they did reach an agreement...of some very small reforms and the promise that all knights would work on a bigger structural reform in the next 3 months. And if that last thing would not happen Knight Y. and his friends would leave the wise round table in law street after 3 months. Nevertheless some of knight Y's close friends wasn't too impressed with the agreement and decided not to sit at the wise round table. The other knights on their turn weren't too impressed as their representation in the big council would not be optimal anymore. Everyone started blaming everyond for not being loyal.
In the mean time knight Y. had left the supervision of the wise healers and will return to his friends at the wise round table in law street, which is still being preceded by knight G. for another couple of weeks. Will all the knights come to a true agreement before their self-set deadline would expire?
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Comments
I think the POst should link this post of yours!!
well written :-)