In Baton Rouge an old priest lay dying in the hospital. For years he had faithfully served the people of the state’s capital city and was well known among the elected officials. He motioned for his nurse to come near.
“Yes, Father?” said the nurse.
“I would really like to see Governor Jindal and former Senator Noble Ellington before I die,” whispered the priest.
“I’ll see what I can do, Father”, replied the nurse.
The nurse sent the request to the governor and the Department of Insurance and waited for a response. Soon the word arrived; Jindal and Ellington would be delighted to visit the priest.
As they went to the hospital, Jindal commented to Ellington, “I don’t know why the old priest wants to see us, but it will certainly help our images and might even get me elected to higher office.”
Ellington agreed that it was a good thing in that it might take some of the pressure off his accepting a $150,000 do-nothing job with the department after leaving the legislature for the sole purpose of increasing his retirement even as Jindal was slashing rank-and-file employee pensions.
“That’s true,” Jindal replied. “Maybe it’ll help people to forget that I bought back 2.2 years so I could increase my own retirement and that I exempted statewide elected officials from the 3 percent increase in retirement contributions.”
When they arrived at the priest’s room, the priest took Jindal’s hand in his right hand and Ellington’s hand in his left hand. There was silence and a look of serenity on the old priest’s face.
Finally Jindal spoke. “Father, of all the people you could have chosen, why did you choose us to be with you as you near the end?”
The old priest slowly replied, “I have always tried to pattern my life after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
“Amen”, said Jindal.
“Amen”, said Ellington.
The old priest continued: “Jesus died between two thieves; I would like to do the same.”
