When I shoot at the range, I don't feel personally powerful but like the custodian of something powerful. I feel like a successful disciplinarian of something radically alien and potent. Analyze this sensation all you want; you still can't make it go away.
It would be foolish to suggest that government is a good custodian of aesthetic goals. But, there is no alternative to the state.
I was taught that a lawyer was supposed to be a custodian of the community's legal and ethical sense.
I did grow up poor. My mom managed to get a job as a custodian at our church, and it was really just a favor for her, and my dad's an electrician - just a blue-collar family, and the house was usually falling apart.
Our ideals, laws and customs should be based on the proposition that each generation in turn becomes the custodian rather than the absolute owner of our resources - and each generation has the obligation to pass this inheritance on in the future.
The constitution is the ultimate custodian of social will and its making should be accorded all due diligence.
Be as polite to the custodian as you are to the chairman of the board.