What’s Heard

St. Francis preached to the animals, but it is not recorded whether they understood much of what he was talking about. The other day I walked past a group of teenagers who were talking about Keynesian economics. They were agreeing with one another that he had a point with his “in the long run we’re all dead” business. “After all,” one explained, “If you keep passing your debts from one bank to another until after you’re gone, you’ll never have to pay anything! That’s pretty smart.”