Emphasis Preaching Journal

It was either a bold gesture of courage, or an act of supreme foolishness. The occasion was the state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, premier of the Soviet Union. For many days and nights, the mourners had been filing by his open casket in solemn procession. First ordinary citizens, then Party functionaries, then generals, ambassadors, and members of the Politburo, and finally the heads of state of foreign lands. All had come to pay their respects to a man, who -- if not widely loved -- had been widely feared.