Will No One Rid Me…?

According to legend, in 1170, Henry II of England cried out in a fit of pique, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest!” The legend is in the wording—there are other interpretations of what he said. Either way, same result: words were said, and taken by four young knights as an order and an opportunity to prove their loyalty to their cranky king—a man who, like his mother and grandfather, never really did learn how to filter.

They rode out to challenge and ultimately kill the priest in question, one Thomas Becket. By all accounts the assassination was pretty brutal, and those are eyewitness accounts. Alive, Becket was a peck of trouble to Henry. Dead, he brought far more trouble than Henry’s frustration could possibly have been worth.

The thing that brought this story to mind was today’s shooting in Arizona of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and several others at a grocery store in Tucson. Oh, and Sarah Palin’s Hit List. Just sayin’.