Historical Musings

[skonen_blades]

Stone stairs with backs swayed from centuries of feet look back at me from my memories, daring me to walk up. Every apartment I lived in over there was older than Canada

Comments

[mersipan]

I loved this post.

(Don't get me wrong, I love your other writings too, but I found this one especially interesting - probably because my other love (after sci-fi) is biographies.)

I really think the US has lost our frontier spirit in the pursuit of convenience and the "next best thing" (maybe not in places like Alaska, but definitely here in places like DC).

[skonen_blades]

Yeah, maybe

[spasmsproject]

This was fascinating.

I'd like to see more ruminations of this nature.

[skonen_blades]

I'm happy it was well received. I get a little nervous on the rare occasions that I deviate from fiction.

[spasmsproject]

Deviant!

[skonen_blades]

That would be me, yes.

[cupofpoison]

Fascinating. It's funny how different people will respond to things differently. I would love to be surrounded by such deep history. There's so little of it here. Hardly a mark from the American Revolution left, and to think.... there were dozens of wars before the Revolution but nothing remains. The folklore in fallen cultures' eyes, Native Americans who speak of distant relatives long lost to smallpox and the first settlement wars. No scars, just memories, memories quickly fading. I wonder what this place will be like in another two hundred years. What kind of government? What kind of mentality? You are lucky to have lived in Scotland, and to have experienced such history and such places. Then again, you are lucky to live now in Canada. It's a place of such beauty and wild, such culture. We have that ancient history here, it's just different from Europe. Not material. It's a hardship kind of history. It's a sign on the side of the road that mentions the first township, talks about the first European settlers and their ethnicity, and

[skonen_blades]

Yeah. It's tough. That's another thing about any huge civilization, though. They all had a rights-deprived slave class to do the shit work and/or killed off the indigenous people. A society where everyone is free is a dangerous and unstable society. Every major civilization's history is a history of genocide

[cupofpoison]

Yes it is. Ah, delicious. I love your perspectives. That ant piece must have been incredible! As the First Nations piece must have been too. You are right, I think, about the civilization thing. It's something more people ought to be aware of...

[molasses]

nice piece.
for me it's about a kind of need to cling to the illusion of permanence.

in my world, everything ends, everything dies.
sometimes i miss the architecture and graveyards but, really, i mostly think "get over yourselves".
history is over.
jump!

[skonen_blades]

Yeah, I agree.

[molasses]

i was feeling a bit bad about this reply.
maybe my tone was whiny/grumpy day.
sorry if so!

[skonen_blades]

Oh no not at all. I've been busy the last couple of days. I need to write two pieces today. It's been a wild three weeks. : )