The Indomitable Humpty Dumpty

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, and all the Kings horses and all the Kings men couldn't put Humpty together again...”

OK, first of all, where in that short poem does it say that Mr. Dumpty is an Egg?? Anyone? That's right! it doesn't! Which just goes to show that cartoons have brainwashed us all!

Now then, having established that point, I have to ask, What mother names her child Humpty? I mean really, even if your last name is Dumpty, that's not clever, that's just cruel. That poor kid probably never heard the end of it...which begs the question, Did he have a "great fall" or did he jump? I'm just sayin' is all.

One way or another we arrive at the point where this Dumpty fellow finds himself on the ground all busted up after his fall...and who do they call for help? “All the King's horses and all the King's men.” Now, I really have to question the logic of bringing horses into this. I mean, as well intentioned as these horses might have been, it seems to me that hooves would make for shoddy medical work...as far as that goes, do we really need ALL the Kings men in on this? Seems like a skilled Doctor with a few well trained nurses would have done the trick. I mean what's a blacksmith and a fruit vendor gonna do other then get in the way? Nothing, that's what! Humpty Dumpty never had a chance, doomed from day one, it was a disaster right from the beginning...poor guy...

Then again...maybe Humpty died happy (assuming of course he didn't go up there to jump...). Maybe our good friend Mr. Dumpty went up there to see what must have been the most amazing view! A sunset or sunrise to rival all others. Maybe he was up there from sunrise to sunset to sunrise again, taking in the full glory and majesty of the day: The sun, the moon, and the stars, the valleys below, the mountains around and the plains in between, and all human activity within the range of this grand panorama. Maybe He knew the danger and braved the wall all the same! Perhaps he was a pioneer where all others feared to tread and experienced a view and a joy that none other had even dared to dream before. It could very well be that he died happy...

That is of course if he died at all...I see no real evidence to support that conclusion. Our little limerick does not, after all, end with “Rest In Peace Humpty Dumpty”. All we know is that to some measure the unfortunate Humpty is broken beyond the skill of all of the Kingdom to repair (at least in so far as all of the kingdom is represented by horses and men). It is conceivable, therefore, that the injury in question was nothing more then a sprained ankle or at worst a shattered femur (probably started out as a sprained ankle and then they brought the horses in...his poor femur never saw it coming...) and, it stands to reason, with the level of medical expertise of the day, they simply didn't know how to fix it...was amputation considered? We'll never know.

On the other hand, what if this fall is a symbolic thing? What if, after much planning, dreaming, and scheming, Humpty Dumpty, heart full of hope, ascended to the hight of this great wall, in full anticipation of the afore mentioned glorious panoramic view...only to bear witness to a smog obscured scene of desolation. And so the downtrodden Mr. Dumpty, head held low in shame and disappointment must return to lower elevations, dispirited, disheartened, and disinherited of the hope that once gave him reason to go on... Of course the King would spare no effort to cheer this woeful citizen. He would call in the finest show horses, Jesters, dancers, and performers... But to no avail. Alas the heart of our dear friend seemed forever broken.

Of course it could very well have been that the wall itself was a symbol. Perhaps after rising in prestige and power, in fame and fortune, and in favor in the Kingdom and in the eyes of the King this poor fellow fell victim, like Lancelot of Camelot, to scandal and false accusation. And though all of the entourage of the King defended this fine man's honor, the King would hear none of it and so Humpty Dumpty remained a fallen individual...

Unfortunately we cannot know from the few lines that constitute all of our knowledge of the life and times of Humpty Dumpty which, if any, of these speculations is truth. But the fact that we know so little of the beginning and the end of Humpty Dumpty makes him a model for each of us: For what we do know is that somewhere in the course of his life he fell. The exact nature of this fall is likewise a mystery, again making it a perfect model for our own lives: For in the course of each of our lives we all will fall. None of us, however amazing or wonderful, are perfect, and life, it seems at times, is engineered to cast us down. My hope is that through his fall Humpty earned the title this article has given him: The Indomitable Humpty Dumpty. It is this most noble of all Dumptys who, though fallen and pronounced broken by all men and beast, let no handicap nor dis figuration mar his success nor dampen his hopes of grander scenes. Though his body be broken his spirit would soar higher then the highest of all high walls. It is this unconquerable spirit that, though all dreams be defeated, though all hope be disappointed, would yet dare to dream and live to hope. And though false accusation defame, such a being would hold fast to honor, though all the world try to convince him that he has none, he would live a quite life of principle, even though all his virtue be rendered invisible by the forked tongues of men made blind by scandal.

There is greatness in each of us! It seems to me that the common thread brightly woven into the tapestry of each of the lives of all great men and women is that none of them stayed fallen for long. Yes, we must all fall and meet with disappointment in our lives, but let us be as I hope Mr Dumpty was: Let us let no scorn of our name, nor fear of what we may achieve keep us from the heights other men and women dare not realize. There is well-nigh no fall that is permanent if we simply choose to get up from the ground and stand again (figuratively where such an act is not literally possible).

So whether he was man or omelet let us learn from what we hope Humpty Dumpty was, and indeed may we hope for the same greatness in ourselves!