Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’ The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb. (Mark 6: 25-29)

Pride is an awful master. For fear of being embarrassed before his courtiers Antipas feels forced to do what he does not want to do and what he ought not.

Self-interest, self-esteem, and pride are not enough... or perhaps too much... or probably just the wrong measure all together.

We do not find the self in serving it. The self is found and fulfilled by being the unique expression of God originally intended at our creation.

Above is a drawing done for Oscar Wilde's Salome by Aubrey Beardsley.