Featured in the Crown Issue of Liveology Yoga Magazine.
In one of Les Brown’s presentations, he tells the story of a slave auction generations ago. A plantation owner was in the market for free labor. He wanted the strongest, most agile, most fit and yet those who were mentally pliable and would perform without resistance. He noticed a particular slave who stood out from the rest. He was a beautiful human specimen, tall, radiant, muscular all the physical qualities the plantation owner desired. This slave “walked with his head up and his shoulders back.” He had as Les Brown described it, “a kick in his step.” Everything about the very essence of this slave said to the plantation owner, “I want that slave.”
However, when he approached the auctioneer and petitioned to buy that particular slave he was told that that slave was “not for sale.” “What makes him so different?” inquired the plantation owner. He was told that back in Africa, that particular slave’s father was a king and that slave believes he is still a prince. He walks like a prince and he acts like a prince because, in his self concept, he is royalty and behaves accordingly. He walks as though he wears a crown.
A crown is a symbol of distinction. When we think of a crown we tend to think of a special group of individuals with privileges and honors that set them apart from the mainstream of society. A crown is a symbol of distinction worn by those who are conditioned from birth to live as though they are ”a cut above the rest.”
Well, I contend that every human being is created in the image of God and as such is born to wear a crown. I love the Genesis creation stories of God’s calling into being all of creation and without making distinctions among which creation was good and which was not so good, God said, “it is good” all of it.
