A silly argument

Dear Friend,

I hope by now you've figured out that the silly things we fight over are most often just that.... silly. I thought of you today when we were standing in the square in Bologna. Because it's a picture of a very silly fight.... our silly fight. It's said that when this statue, which faces the doors of one of the largest churches in the city center, was commissioned, a fight broke out between the local bishop and the artist.

The statue, by the way, is the statue of Neptune, Greek God of the Sea. It was commissioned by Pope Pious !V in the 1500's and is in the middle of a fountain with dolphins, mermaids, and the various coats of arms of the ruling peoples of the day. All was good, until the great unveiling, when the bishop and the artist. The fight wasn't about the artist's choice of subject matter. Perhaps it would have been a better fight. This generation was definitely in love with all things from the age of Helen and Troy, and was fascinated by Greek deities. There could have been a real conversation about a more appropriate town hero, one that would remind the people each week of the provision of the God of the Galaxies. But that, it appears, was never discussed.

What did cause a kerfuffel? Of course. Penis size. It's said that the bishop and the local priests were concerned that the parish ladies, coming out of worship, would be overwhelmed when coming face to face with a giant phallus, and maybe in danger of coming... OK too easy. I'll stop there. But that was just the point. The priests were worried that their female parishoners wouldn't stop there. So the statue had to be re-configured. Down sized. Made much much smaller. Yeah. I'm sure it was about the ladies, right. And not the bruised egos of their husbands?

Friend, please forgive me when we fight about nonsense. Beacause for my money, you're the only part of the whole discussions that's truly important. I love you. Either when neither of us shows it well.

Thus spake,

me