PRECIOUS GOODS RUN THE GAMUT of desire. Diamonds are craved by women, more so by the geologists who find them and the miners who mine them. To a thirsty man in the desert water is more desirable than any diamond or any woman whose graces are enhanced by the precious stone. These dizzying precious goods bring out the best and worst in people, generally speaking, and the worst, generally speaking outweighs the best at any given minute of the day. So the getting and taking of the precious items takes a lot of the daily thought processes of many folk, especially entrepreneurs, dealers, diggers and scammers of many a devious way. But the best of people generally are given the worst of deals by the worst of people and society as a whole misses out in preference for the narrow and greedy interests of the few.
Moving along from these profound thoughts brought me to the question of maybe the second or third oldest profession in the history of the world as we know it before it gets totally screwed up pretty damn soon. Sure, there were prostitutes and they are said to constitute the oldest profession. Then there’s a whole swathe of occupations vying for second and third. Spying is right up there, as is politicking and thievery. Adultery is pretty much a second runner and most of the activities postulated in the Ten Commandments. But professional urging, manipulating and motivating the powerful to a desired direction or decision is right up there in the top ten. Take for instance the powerful apple lobby that manoeuvred Eve into enticing Adam to a taste-testing performance rarely repeated, giving that industry a boost in the marketplace of that early time. Without lobbying, history might well have been totally different.