Quitters

I don't know which is more bizarre, the pope quitting or the pope giving two weeks' notice like any junior accountant in the Receivables Department.  Today's announcement comes only days after the abdication of the Queen of the Netherlands.  Whatever happened to leaving the job feet first, with a band playing Chopin's Funeral March?  I love a state funeral.  Anyway, there isn't much chance the new Dutch king or the new pope will represent much of a change in policy.  One will reign powerlessly over a liberal democracy and the other will continue trying to return to the Middle Ages.  I'm willing to be surprised.