As Marcia entered the room, the first thing she noted was the furniture. There were two very long, leather couches, with low wide arm rests, positioned at right angles to each other, forming a 'V.' At the open end of this 'V,' was a matching leather love seat facing into it. Lord and Lady Jacob sat there, with Lord Jacob to the right of Lady Jennifer.
"Please girls," said Lady Jennifer. "Have a seat on one of the couches."
Marcia sat on the far end of the coach next to Lady Jennifer. The other seven girls had no problem sitting down, as the couches were indeed very long.
Marcia then looked around the room, and thought this room was more like a library with lots of books on shelves. Then it struck her that this room had no windows. Just as it dawned on her how ominous that seemed to her, she then noticed a long wide leather strap hanging off the wall beyond Lord Jacob. Considering what she had experienced today, she had no problem visualizing what was about to happen to them tonight.
"OK girls," said Lady Jennifer. "Before we continue on, are there any lingering issues that you feel need to be resolved?"
The girls on the couch all looked at one another. It appeared that none of them had any questions. Then just as Lord Jacob was about to speak, the shyest of them, Lisa Green, the girl that had been sitting next to Marcia with the long black hair, raised her hand and said, "Mistress Jennifer, I don't understand the difference of what you said earlier about the mother owning the home and the children, but the father owning the family.
"Isn't that just semantics? If the father owns the family, doesn't that mean he owns the home, children and the wife?"
Lady Jennifer thought for a moment, and then replied, "To fully answer your question we need to get into the chain of command, and we're not quite ready for that, but I can assure you this is more than just semantics."
Lady Jennifer then turned to her husband and asked, "I think this would be a good time for one of your Navy analogies; the one about the difference between the CO and XO." She then turned back to the girls. "My husband spent eight years in the Navy, and has a wealth of interesting analogies."
Lord Jacob replied, "Every ship in the Navy has a Commanding Officer and an Executive Officer. The Commanding officer, or CO for short, is the one that determines where the ship is going, and what the ship will do when it gets there. The role of the Executive Officer, or XO, is the one responsible for directing the crew to accomplish what the CO has established for the ship.
"They each have very distinct roles. The CO is more outward focused on the ship, while the XO is more inward focused.
"We believe the same applies to the roles of the father and the mother in a family. We don't believe our children are served well by having the mother and father performing the same roles. Only when their parents are performing different roles do the children attain maximum benefit from them.
"Now Lisa, as my wife stated, we can't fully answer your question right now, but I would like to leave you with a couple of questions to ponder. First, do you believe that the XO has a demeaning, or lesser important role to play because he is beneath the CO in the chain of command? And second, how well do you think a ship would function if it had two captains?"
As Lisa appeared to be pondering what Lord Jacob had said, several more girls raised their hands now, and it appeared to Lady Jennifer that it was Allison Lilly that was the first. She was the one that looked like a librarian with curly auburn hair. "Yes Allison?" asked Lady Jennifer.
"Mistress Jennifer, I first want to say that I admire you greatly. There is no doubt in my mind that your strength of character and confidence represent the kind of woman I want to be. I just don't understand how having women subservient to men leads to the kind of woman you obviously are. This kingdom doesn't seem fair to me, and how being unfair to women will lead to anything good escapes me. How is this possible?"
"It's easy for me to see your problem by the way you asked that question," replied Lady Jennifer. "Your confusion begins and ends with your obvious misunderstanding of what fair is.
"Fairness is a very poorly understood concept in our society, and that misunderstanding leads to most of the problems we experience in it. First of all, there is nothing more subjective in the human experience than fairness. It is entirely subjective, because your sense of fairness is your rudder in life to guide you through what you believe to be right and wrong. Yet many people, liberals in particular, believe that what is fair is universal; that what is right or wrong for them, is what is right or wrong for everyone else.
"Communism is an example of what happens when people decide to use fairness as a system of governance. The reality is that communist countries are not about what is fair, but about what is fair to a handful of elites who think that it is beneath them to convince others how they should guide their 'ship of life.' These elites actually prefer to reach into other people's lives, and grab their rudders to guide them where they believe they aught to go.
"Some people are so twisted in their understanding of fairness that they can look at a vicious and totalitarian regime, like what is in Cuba, and give their atrocities a pass. They do this because they believe that this country seeks to use what is 'fair' in determining its direction. At least, that is what Castro wants its apologists in this country to believe.
"Other examples include even apparently benign countries like Canada. I am forever hearing about what a great country it is because of their universal health care system. The people who advocate this for our country are able to look right past all of the suffering caused by having to wait for necessary medical procedures, solely because this system seems fair to them. They actually have it in their heads that as long as everyone is suffering equally, then it is a good system, and worthy of forcing on everyone against their will.
"Allison, it is very important that you understand this. At no time will fairness ever be considered in determining the actions of this kingdom. The only things considered for this kingdom are what actually work, what is effective, and what accomplishes the things worth accomplishing. Fairness is left for you to decide for yourself, and if that's not fair to you, then the true meaning of it will always escape you, and you will never arrive at the kind woman you think I am."
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/2pumlq/next_generation_christian_kingdom_ch03_marcia