Tag: history

Weekly Writing Prompt #303-We Are Byzantine*: a triolet.

On By Susan St.PierreIn Words 'n' such Poetry11 Comments



We Are Byzantine*

In a predictable cycle of desperately tragic human affairs
But to ask we reexamine history would be most wise.
Modern comforts, and widespread ignorance, lessen ‘who cares’.
In a predictable cycle of desperately tragic human affairs.
Long known evidence of perils ancient text often shares.
So, to avoid imminent collapse will take sober enterprise.
In a predictable cycle of desperately tragic human affairs
But to ask we reexamine history would be most wise.

73-words

*Which events led to the weakening of the Byzantine Empire?

  • Civil wars.
  • Fall of the theme system.
  • Increasing reliance on mercenaries.
  • Loss of control over revenue.
  • The failed Union of the Churches.
  • Crusaders.
  • Rise of the Seljuks and Ottomans.

Victor Davis Hanson wrote a piece I read this morning on the similar circumstances the U.S. has with the former Byzantine Empire. It inspired my triolet. You can read the interesting and informative article here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/victor-davis-hanson-are-we-the-byzantines/ar-AA18GgdQ

https://sammiscribbles.wordpress.com/2023/03/18/weekend-writing-prompt-303-enterprise/

The Dawdler 3/9/23 Don’t Mess with History

On By Susan St.PierreIn In my humble opinion...26 Comments

Rory has asked more questions.



Have you ever watched a long-running televised series from start to finish, and once you have reached the end, you wanted to watch it again or is once enough for you and time for a new long-running series?

No. There were many that I enjoyed but my time and interests have always been fluid. As I dislike schedules, to interrupt life to sit in front of a TV at a specific night and time, wasn’t a high priority for me. Once shows went into syndication, it was a delight to happen upon episodes that were new to me, though.



Do you think traditions are essential to society – if so, why and if not, why not?

Absolutely and unequivocally, “Yes”. Traditions are the glue that binds a society and country. That alone is a sound reason for limited and merit-based immigration practices. To dilute traditions, endangers the whole of a society. IMHO… Immigrants must show an interest in assimilation or be denied.
For anyone gasping over this, assimilation doesn’t mean erasing any immigrant’s cultural or religious customs (In the case of the U.S.-unless they are directly ‘at odds’ with our Constitution).
Assimilation means there’s an importance for the immigrant to learn the primary language, respect that country’s laws and customs, and to raise their children to participate in the country’s traditions. [Otherwise, they are no more than tourists.]
I know of no country that allows for as many exceptions to their own traditions (even to the point of allowing the villainization of basic principles and historical records) more than the U.S. It will be our undoing and those who encourage those exceptions, are either ignorant of the lessons of history or maliciously promoting that division.



What would be easier to throw away deep love or deeply lined rich pockets – flipside – can money buy love?

There are many, many, kinds of love. Romantic love seems the most fragile, IMHO.
As for money ‘buying’ love, there are also many ways people define “love”. (IMHO… sadly a great many have never known ‘love’.) I assume some people think that it can be bought but it’s not me.

To me personally, money means very little, but for others, money is their security, status, power, and motivation for living. Those people are actually the most impoverished among us.

As for those ‘kinds’ of love, I would never suggest to anyone, who values their health, to test the depth of the bond of (most) fathers and mothers with their children or grandchildren. You won’t enjoy the outcome.


https://earthlycomforts.uk/2023/03/09/a-wild-aloha-to-you-25/



Reena’s Xploration Challenge #248- Excavating History

On By Susan St.PierreIn Writing Prompts5 Comments

We have a phrase this week to serve as your writing prompt.

…passing through a doorway in history

There is no restriction on format of the piece. There is no last date either, unless you wish to be featured in the Weekly Wrap. 



Duncan’s head hurt.
His pursuit of truth is a hunger he knows can never be satisfied in a conclusion. He wonders, “Is the past truly a mosaic of endless opinions or is there more?”
To become an observer by passing through a doorway of history would give him more evidence but trusting his eyes and ears has limitations. The “who he is”- a being marinated in modern day culture and sensibilities- would be a tremendous disadvantage to an unbiased reenactment. He knows that the understanding of history is disserved by only studying collections of modern intellectual interpretations after the fact. It needs to be excavated for evidentiary fossils that prove each past moment was once alive and three-dimensional.
So, Duncan reads everything he can find… journals and diaries, essays and articles.
His focus is on the founding of his country. Not from any patriotic duty or political position, as one might guess, but because he has Spatial Sequence Synesthesia, and his personal ‘mental map’ oddly always balances on a fulcrum in the late 1800s. His internal visual timeline stretches to infinity toward the past and future from the 1860s every time he withdraws his focused perspective and tries to ‘see’ all of Time. His ‘gift’ is either a peculiar mental defect or a sign of something special and Duncan doesn’t believe in coincidences, so he feels compelled to understand more. He’s somehow tied to that period.

I wish him well.
He may never find a full understanding, but Duncan doesn’t care as long as he collects knowledge that he can absorb through his 5 senses and his heart, bringing the past alive again.
He’s a guy I’d like to talk with!

https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2022/09/15/reenas-xploration-challenge-248/

Pride and Shame: Is that Diversity?

On By Susan St.PierreIn In my humble opinion..., Sideshows2 Comments

Anyone else “put off” by the raging efforts to educate people…apparently ignorant people…on diversity?

I’m not pleased by this approach, at all.

First, the masses are considered culturally “stupid” when workplaces insist upon this “training”. Sit, listen and learn, how to feel. Did you know, one is allowed to have racial pride only if they are a person of “color”?

Secondly, the whole effort, seems to me, an active work to divide us. It is pointing out differences rather than our common humanity. Oh yeah, I’ve never found a white citizen embraced by this method either … we are colorless but not shameless or blameless. 😦

Certainly, forcing it upon people adds a “warmth” hard to measure, as well.

The issue of compassion and understanding, had been addressed very well when I was a kid. Anyone remember the Golden Rule?

“Treat others the way we’d want to be treated.”

(Yes, there was and, still is, racial and gender inequality. It has come a long way. I think it is threatening to lose ground because white people fear being called racist or prejudice, if they want to have a share in diversity. We all know, white folks aren’t qualified to have an opinion.)

Makes me sadly aware that there IS a difference between ignorance and stupid!

————————————————————————————–

Political Correctness

Lesson One:

What’s in a Name?

On By Susan St.PierreIn In my humble opinion..., Sideshows7 Comments

This is for you guys out there. Something that you may not have considered.

This was inspired by my Facebook connection to my High School graduating class of 1974, since, the women are much harder to identify. It reminded me of something.

The social convention of women taking their husband’s last name is common and seems quite mundane, especially to the husband.

It wasn’t really easy for me, and I suspect, it hasn’t been easy for many women. We create an individuality, a reputation and a persona as we grow up then our “identity” is renamed, changed, in one day.

At first, my biggest fear was accidentally misspelling this name but it felt like I was hiding my true identity for years. Soon, came the ordinary questions from locals about this family, which I really had no history with. Few asked about my “maiden” family because it was hidden but I had been THAT former person all of my life. There was a brand new persona that was in its infancy and I felt a little lost.

In my case, we lived (and still do) in a small city where our families had an equal recognizability. I was not as much an alien, as a bipolar person. For years, I was introduced with two names, by folks who were “in the know”. The old person and this new one…I hadn’t changed a bit though. Creepy when you really get down to it.

I realized that this was a sore point for years, when I uncharacteristically made a snipe at friend of my husband’s family. About two years into our marriage, our first child was born. My husband’s family friend was admiring our beautiful daughter and commented, in jest, “You should had named her Edwina after her father.”

I felt flushed for a moment, then said, “Why would I? She already has HIS last name!”

The rush of resentful emotion startled me, as much as, the poor woman.

Now, I’ve been married for 34 years and I’m no longer the “maiden”. I have built one fine new reputation and persona and I’m comfortable. But when I try to relate to friends who knew me by an ancient name, there’s still a pinch…a moment of mourning, about that not so mundane name change long ago.

23612_411477303827_530328827_5007867_4476253_nSusan

Happy Valentine’s Day… whomever you are?

In The Lake of the Woods- Book Review

On By Susan St.PierreIn Book Reviews6 Comments

41E95Y1K45L._SS500_Just finished this book and I’m in the usual fog that follows. Gripping and disturbing are often adjectives applied to books. They fit completely in this case.

There are historical references, many of which I remember in real-time. The old understood fact, that society is forgetful, certainly has me reeling. I had also forgotten those events.

Forgetting is necessary in order to carry on after atrocities. But when we forget, do we place understanding in the hands of historians? Then again, there are some things, like the recent tragedy in a Connecticut school, that can never be understood. It will never be known how many people were wounded…scarred forever, and the lack of understanding of such events fester forever in our subconsciousness. Never Solved…Never Resolved…EVER.

So what do we do? We wait. Time doesn’t ever heal anything. It just allows for those scarred individuals to, one day, all turn to dust and, with them, the direct, hurtfulness of the unimaginable.

This book returns us to the time of the Vietnam War through the life of John Wade. It reintroduced atrocities that have yet, in 2013, to become dust. It skillfully asks the question, How can we forget? It produces characters that are directly and indirectly victims of things that they don’t understand. Most of those things, they don’t want to understand but the effects are real enough to destroy their lives. The horrific ripples are toxic and live on and keep destroying as if the horrors faced are living beasts attached by an umbilical to the witnesses.

Tim O’Brien obviously was/is one of those scarred by the war. He makes a case for living beyond personal nightmares, especially when they are the only ones faced in a lifetime. But John Wade has endured a piling on of nightmares. His hauntings intermingle and grow larger and fiercer with every attempt he makes to forget them. Not having answers, as an adult, is troubling. Needing answers, as a child, can leave a person hopelessly lost.

I couldn’t put this down. I was a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. Some might say, the ending asks more questions than it gives answers. I believe this book was about the gray area between what is real and what we cannot understand. It certainly made me feel powerless to ever make things right. Happiness is an illusion after tragedy and the best survivors are merely “magicians”.