Papa Smurf Will Bring You Home
And tho' thou notest from thy safe recess
Old Friends burn dim, like lamps in noisome air,
Love them for what they are; nor love them less,
Because to thee they are not what they were.
-Coleridge
I am packing for our upcoming move. I am reminded, getting ready, of the 101st as they moved into the area surrounding the Eagle’s Nest at the close of the European phase of World War II. The people in that town were all diehard Nazis, all high up in the party. They couldn’t claim ignorance of the death camps or pretend not to support the war like other towns.
I am disappointed with how Saddam is being allowed to manipulate the imagery of his trial. They shouldn’t allow him to speak. They should stick him in a glass box like they did with Eichmann. What a tinfoil-hat-crazy bastard that guy is. I watched “Uncle Saddam,” the documentary made just before the war about him and his family and his palaces and wealth. I am amazed at how corrupt and greedy his people were. I am saddened to think about what he did to his country. Baghdad used to be the most civilized city in the world. Free hospitals, public education, no crime, universities, and banks with branches as far away as China. I know you can’t blame one sadistic dictator for what the country is now compared to what it was a few hundred years ago, but Arabs used to be the most advanced civilization in the world. While the Eastern Empire was still trying to survive and what was left of the Western Empire was hemorrhaging like an Ebola victim, the Arab world was studying advanced mathematics and astronomy and medicine. There are still documents that hint of technologies and techniques they used that have never been rediscovered, or have never been applied to everyday life the way they did it.
It’s intriguing to think what the world would be like if Charles Martel and Charlemaigne had never driven these people out of Europe. Or if the Crusades hadn’t subjected them to an era of piracy and banditry and pillage. Would they have been the next Greece, or the next Rome? Would the world be one enormous Arab state? Would we ever have gone into space? Would the Dark Ages have ended sooner? Would I be able to have a flying car or grow a third arm?
Who knows. I have to get some rest. I’ve got an early morning, a long day, and an exciting drive ahead of me.
Old Friends burn dim, like lamps in noisome air,
Love them for what they are; nor love them less,
Because to thee they are not what they were.
-Coleridge
I am packing for our upcoming move. I am reminded, getting ready, of the 101st as they moved into the area surrounding the Eagle’s Nest at the close of the European phase of World War II. The people in that town were all diehard Nazis, all high up in the party. They couldn’t claim ignorance of the death camps or pretend not to support the war like other towns.
I am disappointed with how Saddam is being allowed to manipulate the imagery of his trial. They shouldn’t allow him to speak. They should stick him in a glass box like they did with Eichmann. What a tinfoil-hat-crazy bastard that guy is. I watched “Uncle Saddam,” the documentary made just before the war about him and his family and his palaces and wealth. I am amazed at how corrupt and greedy his people were. I am saddened to think about what he did to his country. Baghdad used to be the most civilized city in the world. Free hospitals, public education, no crime, universities, and banks with branches as far away as China. I know you can’t blame one sadistic dictator for what the country is now compared to what it was a few hundred years ago, but Arabs used to be the most advanced civilization in the world. While the Eastern Empire was still trying to survive and what was left of the Western Empire was hemorrhaging like an Ebola victim, the Arab world was studying advanced mathematics and astronomy and medicine. There are still documents that hint of technologies and techniques they used that have never been rediscovered, or have never been applied to everyday life the way they did it.
It’s intriguing to think what the world would be like if Charles Martel and Charlemaigne had never driven these people out of Europe. Or if the Crusades hadn’t subjected them to an era of piracy and banditry and pillage. Would they have been the next Greece, or the next Rome? Would the world be one enormous Arab state? Would we ever have gone into space? Would the Dark Ages have ended sooner? Would I be able to have a flying car or grow a third arm?
Who knows. I have to get some rest. I’ve got an early morning, a long day, and an exciting drive ahead of me.
posted by Battler03 at 12:15 PM
1 Comments:
Nick....HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! I know you are not able to read these very often..but I thought I would write this on December 22 so you can see it when you have a chance. Thanks for making my littler sister the awesome woman she is!! Next year you will be home to celebrate your anniversary with your beautiful wife....keep up the GREAT work!!!
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