"And now, finally, son of Jor El....

Kneel before Zod...."

One of the most famous quotes in movie history of course. I've always loved that line.
It's utter helplessness. Utter humiliation. The ultimate challenge when the chips are not just down but out, and you just find out if you can locate the reserve to turn total failure over and over and over until it catches a chink of light.

But this is not the first time in the movie that this line appears. (General Zod is a bit of a broken record on the whole kneeling thing).
Perhaps even more touching is the line's first appearance in Superman 2.
This time it is the act of the helpless President of the United States who goes on to say....

"I'll kneel before you, if it will save lives"

(And for completeness sake... there follows from General Zod: "It will, starting with your own").

Perhaps you see an analogy with our Queen shaking hands today with the IRA terrorist who authorised the murder of her cousin, his only outstanding regret being that the IRA didn't kill more Royals.

I doff my hat to the wise media men who recorded the event only in pictures allowing Martin McGuinness's revolting comment of "thank you, and goodbye" to our Queen, to be blown away by the strength of her grace and power of forgiveness.
An example to us in her Jubilee year? I think so.

"I'll kneel before you, if it will save lives"
Or life, perhaps. One would be enough.
After all, it might be somebody you know. And those lives are much more important than those other ones, aren't they?

Some days you kneel. Some days you shake hands with the Devil.
Some days you lie, perhaps just to save a feeling.
Some days you'd kill, just to live.

Perhaps you think that forgiveness is power.
I am tempted to agree.


Zod save the Queen.