The Road

It’s been a year.  How’s it been working out for us?

I was originally thinking of publishing the rant I wrote last year today–the rant that launched a blog.  I sent it out to my family and friends, offending about half of them and surprising the other half.  I used to be considered the self-restrained and calm one of the family.  (Not sure what status it’s morphed into–the obsessed one?  I haven’t asked lately.)  Funny, but when I read it now it seems fairly tame.  Pretty accurate, but fairly tame.  I was most shocked and concerned about the blatant cheating that went on during the Democratic primaries.  It was eye opening.  The media’s complacency was even more upsetting.

I’m in a bit less reactive place now.  The past year’s journey has been a real education.  It’s not about one person, one party, one color, one bill or another.  It’s about a philosophy–about fairness, justice, and liberty.  Obviously the road has turned out to be far more difficult than it seemed it would be this time last year.  Instead of problems solved, we have many more problems created and a future even more uncertain.

In honor of the new road, I hope you enjoy listening to this:

What Do You Think of It So Far?

by Nik Kershaw, from the album “15 Minutes”

You’ve had it all and you wanted more
You’ve had nothing and you wanted for nothing
You take a look through the open door
See it all going on out there
Time goes by, time goes by
And if you didn’t laugh you could almost cry

What do you think of it so far?
Do you wonder there might be something better?
Do you think about where you are?
Do you wonder where you’re going?

Five days a week for a slice of pie
Six pack of beer for an anesthetic
You laugh a lot but you don’t know why
And you don’t seem to care ’bout that
Life goes on, life goes on
You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s almost gone

What do you think of it so far?
Do you wonder there might be something better?
Do you think about where you are?
Do you wonder where you’re going?

This three piece suite
These aching feet
This one way street
This funny old town
This unmade bed
These books unread
These thoughts unsaid
This merry go round

Time goes by
And if you didn’t laugh you could almost cry
Life goes on, life goes on
You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s almost gone

What do you think of it so far?
Do you wonder there might be something better?
Do you think about where you are?
Do you wonder where you’re going?

I do love the traveler/seeker archetype.  Prophetic moments and transcendence and all that.

In other news, November 5 was Guy Fawkes Day in Great Britain.  It’s a funny celebration.  One of the many lovely things about Great Britain is the roundabout way in which you tend to figure things out because things aren’t ‘in your face’ like they tend to be in this country.  It’s a much more subtle place.  Anyway, here’s the story:

Guy Fawkes was one of a group of men who plotted against King James I in 1605.  Here’s a link to a website with more complete explanations (all further quotes are taken from there), but in short, this group put barrels of gunpowder in the basement of the Houses of Parliament in a foiled attempt to blow it to smithereens and destroy the government.  It was mainly a Catholic/Protestant thing, the Catholics being the ones feeling tyrannized.  Although Fawkes was not the ringleader, he was the one caught when the King’s men got word of the plot and stormed the basement.

It affected the country deeply:

Even for the period which was notoriously unstable, the Gunpowder Plot struck a very profound chord for the people of England. In fact, even today, the reigning monarch only enters the Parliament once a year, on what is called “the State Opening of Parliament”. Prior to the Opening, and according to custom, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster. Nowadays, the Queen and Parliament still observe this tradition.

Another interesting factoid:  the word “guy” as we use it today originated from this event.  It’s even etymologized to Guy Fawkes Day in dictionaries.

And every November 5th each town has it’s own “Bonfire Night”.  Ours had a fairly large celebration–food, music, fire twirlers (!) and the traditional gigantic bonfire and fireworks show.  An effigy of ‘the Guy’ is burned.  The chant that is recited is this:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes, guy, t’was his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England’s overthrow.

By god’s mercy he was catch’d
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king.

And what shall we do with him?
Burn him!

(This is actually a nursery rhyme.  Chalk this up to cultural misunderstanding if you must, but should a nursery rhyme ever call for burning someone alive?  Really?)

It was one of those things where you really wonder if you are ‘getting it’.  (By this time–our 4th foreign country of residence and umpteenth country visited–I was very used to not ‘getting’ things immediately and was not at all agitated by this fact.  Patience and a little asking around usually worked wonders.)  So here are me and my American friend from down the street the next day:

Me:  So did you and the fam [the family] have fun last night at the bonfire?

Lynn:  Yeah, it was awesome–we got there early and got a place so close to the fire twirlers, we could feel the heat whooshing by.  How about you?

Me:  Yeah, we had a great time.  The fireworks were incredible, especially for such a small town.  Do you get this whole holiday, though?

Lynn:  You mean like why they name the day after a guy who tried to ruin everything?

Me:  Yes–It’s kind of like if you named December 25th “Ceasar Augustusmas” or celebrated “King George Day” on July 4th.

Lynn:  Or if you took off of work on Labor Day….

Me:  Exactly.

Lynn:  It is sort of backwards.  Something is definitely up with that.  Looking around last night I was thinking ‘these people are really having a little TOO much fun for such a seriously debilitating plot this guy was attempting’.  In the US, we don’t name stuff after our enemies.

Me:  I guess we’ll just have to ask Barry.  {Laughter ensues.}  [Barry Gibb was one of our neighbors.  We never actually saw him.  He lived about 2 streets over on a huge estate.  Two bloody years I spent searching the aisles of Sainsburys and hanging around the post office.  You let me down, Barry--I am gutted!]

We asked several of our neighbors.  Turns out they were too polite to come right out and say it, but further research confirmed our suspicions:

Some of the English have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, whether they are celebrating Fawkes’ execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government.

If you’ve ever seen the movie “V for Vendetta“, which came out in 2005, you’ve heard of this day and may believe the theme of the holiday to be as the movie portrays it.  In truth, the movie was a switcheroo of the holiday.  The holiday officially focuses on the ‘God save the King’ angle while the movie features a violent anarchist taking the heroic role of the treasonist/patriot.

So which is it–do you shout ‘God save the King’ or do you take the lines “We see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot” out of context as an anti-government statement?  If you desire to dismantle government or reduce its role are you a treasonist or a patriot?  I guess it depends on which road you are currently traveling.

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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Gunpowder Day/Guy Fawkes Day

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