My Visits to the Taj Mahal

Last week I visited the Taj Mahal.  Twice.

No, I didn't travel to India (although I do have a standing invitation from an evangelist, a licensed MD who also preaches.  I haven't seen him face to face in years).

No, my two visits to the Taj Mahal were in the form of political controversy and a video.  The former is the new courthouse for the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee, nicknamed the Taj Mahal in the local media.  Huge, stately and ostentatious, it looms over US 319 in a new development in the Southeast park of town.  At a cost of nearly $50 million, it is filled with apartments for each of the justices, wood paneling from Africa and a host of other amenities. In a time when tens of thousands have lost their jobs, and when Florida is the Capital of Foreclosure (not to also mention lightning, botched elections, child murders and Right to Life / Death cases), this is simply an embarrassment.  No one wants to take full responsibility for the Tallahassee Taj Mahal.

I saw the second - and more pleasant - Taj Mahal on a PBS video, THE STORY OF INDIA.  The multi-disc documentary traces the development of  India from Prehistory to now (although the term "Prehistory" is an insult to a country that was there from the beginning; perhaps the West should use the term "Post-history" to refer to itself!).  The Taj Mahal is in fact a Mausoleum, built by the Emperor Shah Jahan in tribute to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.  It is unparalleled in its beauty.  In marked contrast to the Tallahassee debacle, the original Taj Mahal has been vigorously claimed by both Hindi and Muslim historians. 

After my "visits" to these landmarks, I have two simple questions (directed at us all):

First (as per Florida's T.M), is there anything excessive and wasteful that you need to get out of your life?

and

Second, when you leave this Earth (and if money, land and resources were not an issue), would anyone be willing to dedicate a monument to you?

Always B Positive!