On Anniversaries

Much that once was is lost, for none now live to remember it. 

   I intended to write this back in April, for the centennial of the sinking of the Titanic.  Here it is now, and I shall expand on the original subject.

The past is the key to the present and the future, for instruction and inspiration.

   I consider myself privileged to be alive for the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.   One of my coworkers rolled her eyes and referred sarcastically to this obsession with the Titanic. Later on she said the movie was "just about her screwing around."  It's not about the ship, dearie, or the movies, it's about the real stories of real people.  If your lot wasn't so jaded and modernized you might realize that. Oh, and as for the movie, it's so much more than Rose and Jack.  It's the story of every person who was there.  And, I do like the fact that Rose takes Jack's name at the end and calls herself Rose Dawson.

 Although if you want love stories on Titanic, look no further than Isidor and Ida Strauss.  Mr. and Mrs. Strauss were in their 60s in 1912, and he was one of the owners of Macy's department store.  Ida refused to leave her husband when the call for women and children to the boats was given. They were last seen sitting on deck chairs holding hands before they were swept away by rising water.  I assume what is commonly referred to as "the old couple scene" in the movie (an older couple lying on a bed together as the water rushes in) is supposed to be Mr. and Mrs. Strauss. I can give you more, but I shall not belabor the point. 

 The point I was trying to make was how soon we forget.  In the weeks leading up to the centennial, I was shocked at the number of people I saw on the internet that had no idea Titanic was a real event, they thought it was just a movie.  My father said some of his students did not know it was a real event. One of the most famous, most tragic, and most costly (in monetary as well as human life) peacetime maritime disasters in history and you thought it was just a movie? My generation causes me to despair nearly every day, but this was worse than usual.  

  Moving on, the subject of anniversaries.  As I said, I consider myself privileged to see the centennial of the Titanic. I hope, if I live that long, the world lasts that long, or if the Lord tarries ect. to see the Bicentennial of the siege of the Alamo in 2036.  I will be in Texas that day, come the proverbial hell or high water. 

  On my Facebook page, I am currently covering the anniversary of the Falklands War. Thank goodness I caught it in time. And thank God he gave me open eyes and an inquisitive mind to follow the trail that began with a few sentences I saw in an old letter.  If I knew then what I know now, I would have done my final project for Latin American History on the Falklands War (and my perspective would have discomfited my very liberal teacher) The Falklands War is rather dear to me at the moment because of its causes, it was almost an aftershock of the World Wars.  Also, it is a highly controversial subject among the Lib Dems  because they think the British were so evil and colonial and they were so cruel to the Argentinians who were just trying to take back what was theirs and Margaret Thatcher personally murdered each Argentinian that died. Whatever, they are more than welcome to go live in Argentina themselves. 

  Speaking of the World Wars, we are two years away from the 100 year anniversary of the War to End all Wars, World War I.  In a way, it was more heinous and violent than its successor. People do not realize that this war, more than any other, practically changed the world overnight.  Nearly 100 years of peace ended in a four year orgy of destruction and when the world woke from the nightmare, nothing would ever again be as it was.  Take a look at the literature written immediately after.  T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland is a good place to start.

  There are no World War 1 veterans left alive, the last one died last year aged 110.  Are we going to forget so quickly what must be remembered? The past is the key to the present.  It is the key so we do not make past mistakes again. And it is the key because the past give us heroes. People to look up to, to emulate, stories that inspire us to act as they would have done in similar situations.  

Semper Recordor

The Wizards, the Vampires, the Eldar and the Eldila

There is a common saying that I have found to be generally true, the book is better than the movie.  Occasionally, there is a movie that is better than the book.  I have yet to experience one myself, but I am told there are a few out there.  That being said, I do wonder why people cannot bother to read a few select books that are based on very popular movies.

   I am writing in particular about The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia.  I am astounded by the number of people who have repeatedly seen the movies based on these books and can quote them verbatim but have never read or so much as touched the books.  They are, not surprisingly, people of my generation. Those of my parent's generation, really anyone born in the English-speaking world between about 1940 and 1980 grew up either reading The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia or having them read to them. Sometime shortly around the time I was born, however, there was a disconnect.

  There have been many occasions when I have been in a discussion about these movies and I will mention something from the books.  The person with whom I am conversing will stammer and said "Well...I never read the books."  I don't know who is more embarrassed, me or them.  I remember two occasions in particular.  One we were discussing the most recent Narnia movie and I said "Yes I hope that they get a good Puddleglum for the next one.  A decent Marsh-Wiggle will make or break the movie." After a strained pause and a nervous laugh the reply was "I never read the books." I sighed inwardly and hastily steered the conversation elsewhere.  It seemed a safer option than tersely replying "Yeah, well maybe you should." and stalking away.  The other occasion I remember we were discussing The Lord of the Rings, and somehow the back stories of the characters came up.  I said something to the effect of :"Well yes, because Aragorn was a Numenorean." One of the people involved in the conversation replied rather jovially "Numa-numa-what? I never read the books." I counted to ten and ended the conversation soon after that.  Again, these were people of my age. Somehow I get the feeling that people my parents age and older would have understood me.

  Or is that true?  I was going to say that it is because people of my generation want the world fed to them in 30-second sounds bites and have not the patience to read a large tome or series of books through. But then I remembered the Narnia and Middle-Earth of my generation.  I am referring to the crap that is Twilight and the tripe that is Harry Potter. Yes! People my generation will read Harry Potter until the Crack of Doom and stand in line overnight to read the next Twilight novel before their friends do. The problem lies not in the media (for these two are movies as well) but in the content.

  Ten years ago when I was an old teenager and Harry Potter had first come out, I remember the controversy among Christians whether or not they should let their children read it.  The most common argument was "At least they are reading." What? That's the best you can do?! (Actually, if it is that hard to get your children to put down the video came console and read a book you have other problems.)  Instead of that, they should have been saying to their children "That's a good story, but here is a better one."  The crap that is Twilight and the tripe that is Harry Potter is just detailed and deep enough to be mildly interesting.  I can give you a laundry list of stories that are so much more than that.

 Enter the arguments that The Lord of the Rings is not a Christian story, Tolkien was a Catholic, I hate allegory, blah, blah, blah I have heard the same song and dance a hundred times. C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia are defenitely Christian stories, and not just for children although that is the target audience.  Some of the more sweet and complex Christian themes in them I did not see until I was older, and their majesty and sublimity caused me to sink to my knees. And once we are grown, Lewis' Ransom Trilogy (I dislike calling it The Space Trilogy because it is so much more than science fiction) is like Narnia the Sequel, or Learning about Aslan in Our Own World.  Even the protagonist is named Ransom for a reason. As for The Lord of the Rings, sure it's not a Christian story, JRRT never meant it to be.  He says so himself in the preface when he goes into detail about allegory versus applicability.  There are certainly applicable Christian themes.  And while we are on the subject of themes, the themes of LOTR are much better than anything in Twilight or Harry Potter.  Themes like good will always triumph over evil in the end; we do good things because they are right, not because people will like us or we will be rewarded; that above the reek and ruin of evil in the world exists a realm of light and glory that evil can never touch but only look at and gnaw on itself in repulsion; that one day the world will be remade and renewed and all that was ruined at the beginning will be healed.

  So I ask you, is it really that much harder to read about those things than it is to read or watch movies about wizards in school or sparkly vampires?

 Oh, and speaking of wizards, Gandalf would have never called anyone a Muggle.