Relating to history
When we study history in school we concentrate on the great events and people of the past. Many of us wonder if any of our ancestors were involved in any of these great events – Is there some of “my”DNA spread across the battlefiels of Crecy, Bosworth, Warterloo?
The aristocracy and nobility can trace this – there are records. I was recently talking to a friend of mine who happens to be a marquis. He was telling me some of the tales of his family – an ancestor who was an admiral whose flagship was used for the signing of the treaty that decided the future of California. Another who helped subdue the Irish in centuries past and a third who seemed to have his own private war with a troop of germans in deepest and darkest Africa during the Great War. All this is documented because his family were eminant. But for the rest of us we can but wonder. The thousands of war graves are full of us peasants!
So who are these great and powerful people who we still remember and who can trace thei ancestry – where did they come from?
Well I would put it to you that for a great many of them their ancestors were the bullies of the day. Before we had a rule of fairness and law the people that made it to the top were the ones who were best at bashing people over the head for their own advancement and they had little conscience about doing it. If you could control the people around you then you got on in the world and violence was the quickest way to do this. If you did it well you were rewarded with title and lands. If you were the best at it you might even become king! As society developed these families were in a position to dictate laws for their own benefit and thus cement their position.
Today they might not be quite so powerful but they are still benefitting. So if you are a modern day “peasant”have pride! It is merely a sign that your ancestors were not bullies and, just perhaps, they had a conscience.
I need all of your help, I am making an effort at figuring out something for my mother for her Birthday. When I was on the phone with her the other week she said that she would like a new set of running clothes. Does anyone know of a reliable place to get them?
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