mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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Authority, Use and Abuse
March 3, 2016
— 2 Comments
When we were in grade school it was obvious that we had little control over our circumstances. This is appropriate for children leaning to be part of a larger society. Still some of us questioned the system wondering where the teachers/parents/school officials got off being so threatening about some rules and regulations. Some of us used our own immature logic to question authority. Some of us even spoke up about what we considered to be abuse of our rights. Others quickly conformed to fit in and get the brownie points for behaving the way we had been instructed to behave. I was naturally part of the first group, those of us who felt oppressed unnecessarily by silly rules.
My nature was never very compliant without seeing the purpose of the rules. One such rule was my mother’s idea of fashion for little girls. I fought tooth and nail over cutting my bangs, putting permanent waves in my otherwise fabulous hair, and, most of all, the wearing of white ankle socks. The whole look was atrocious, but I was physically too small to fight off the stinky hair solutions or the bangs scissors. All I could do was take of the hideous white ankle socks once I had left home for school. It was my only available form of resisting authority that I saw as fascism. My parents were very strict, believed in beating children to a pulp with a belt, and fought back hard. I saw this was obvious sign of weakness, the need to physically bully a child into wearing white socks. If they had thought about what they were doing they might have made more reasonable rules and fought more reasonable battles, but they were out of their minds with power. They belonged to the Republican Party.
They voted for Barry Goldwater for president and loved war and police brutality. They were animated fans of the Viet Nam war, which was truly the last straw. They saw America as entitled bully, and I saw them as entitled bullies. Our political paths would never cross once I was old enough to vote. There was no discussion because my dad would blow his top so wildly that it was out of the question to question his opinions. I just wore a patch on the back of my jeans that said “War is not healthy for children and other living things” and they voted a straight Republican ticket. I have a letter my mother wrote to my father when Kennedy was elected bemoaning the fate of the world. They were truly nuts.
I now thank them for the training I had early in life to see that some authorities use power for evil (I still think permanents are evil and probably cause brian cancer). Some authorities are just ignorant, and must be opposed in order to save the world from fascism. The political scene we face today is clearly one of treacherous consequences. I thought most of the violent crazy people were already dead, but I was completely off course. This sentiment is alive and sick. It has never been more important to vote and become aware of the rights we still have in this country to shape our future. Please inform your self, gentle reader. Consider the possibilities very carefully, and then VOTE!!!
Elizabeth Cocke, 6th Great-grandmother
February 21, 2016
— 17 Comments
Malvern Hill
My 6th great-grandmother was born in Virginia in 1720 in the home where her father had been born. The Cocke family came to Virginia in the 1600’s and played a significant part in the colony’s affairs. She married into the Holt family, another prominent family in Williamsburg. When I was a child my parents took me several times to vacation in Williamsburg. I always looked forward to being there to be immersed in the history of the place. We stayed at the Inn and walked around town to see the blacksmith, the candlestick maker, and many historical reenactments. I have vivid memories of buying sealing wax, which I used on all my correspondence until I was about 18. I had a real thing for fancy stationery and sealing wax that began when I saw it in use at Williamsburg. Now that I know my ancestors lived there I am even more thrilled that my parents (who had no idea about the ancestry connection) gave me the gift of an early interest in history.
Elizabeth Cocke, probably b. 1720’s; m. Dibdale or Dibdall HOLT, son of David HOLT & Margaret DIBDALL of New Kent, Hanover, and Williamsburg, VA (b. 1720’s; d. aft. 1792). Dibdall probably met Brazure COCKE’s family in Williamsburg where the HOLTS were a prominent family. Dibdall’s brother John HOLT served as mayor of Williamsburg and later published newspapers in New York City and Norfolk VA. Dibdall is named in John HOLT’s will, dated Oct. 1, 1749, proved Oct. 30, 1784, in New York. Dibdall’s sister Jane HOLT was married to a famous Presbyterian minister, Rev. Samuel DAVIES (1724-1761), of Hanover Co., VA. Dibdall probably married Elizabeth COCKE roughly 1745 and moved to Amelia Co., VA, soon thereafter. He can be found in Amelia Co. as early as 1748 when he witnessed the will of William STONE (Amelia WB 1, p.55) and was still there in 1762 when he appeared on a tax list. He lived in Nottoway Parish, which later become Nottoway County. A deed dated Dec. 14, 1751, from Phillip STONE of Johnston Co., VA, to Charles CONNALLY & Robert TAYLOR of Nottoway Parish, describes 100 acres in Nottoway Parish adj. where Dibdall HOLT now lives, Charles CONNALLY, Joseph HARPER, Robert TAYLOR’s line by the county line, and William STONE’s line now Dibdall HOLT’s. (Amelia Co., VA, DB 4, p.338.) Robert CHEEK worked as Dibdall Holt’s overseer and lived with him in 1754 and 1755, according to the Amelia Co. tax lists & court records. Dibdall’s daughter may be the Elizabeth HOLT who m. Samuel BIRCH (or BURCH) on May 1, 1764, in Granville Co., NC, with Robert CHEEK as bondsman. Dibdall moved to the Natchez District of the Louisiana territory sometime in the 1770’s & settled in an area that later became Jefferson Co., MS. Dibdall’s name appears on a petition dated Oct. 4, 1779, “from the citizens of Natchez to Lieut. Col. Dickson, 16th Reg. commanding his Britannick Majesty’s Forces in the River Mississippi. . . .” He is also mentioned in his sister Sarah TRULY’s will dated Mar. 15, 1792 (Natchez Dist.) and in other Natchez records. Children may have included David HOLT (m. Rebecca BELK), John HOLT, and William HOLT (d. 1836 in Hinds Co., MS).
Elizabeth Cocke (1720 – 1773)
6th great-grandmother
Elizabeth Holt (1747 – 1811)
daughter of Elizabeth Cocke
Elizabeth Betsy Truly (1782 – 1851)
daughter of Elizabeth Holt
Minerva Truly Darden (1806 – 1837)
daughter of Elizabeth Betsy Truly
Sarah E Hughes (1829 – 1911)
daughter of Minerva Truly Darden
Lucinda Jane Armer (1847 – 1939)
daughter of Sarah E Hughes
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of Lucinda Jane Armer
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor
ruins of Malvern Hill House
Jonathan Aaron Taylor, 3rd Great-Grandfather
February 11, 2016
— 1 Comment
revolutionary pension
My third great-grandfather served in the Revolutionary War. On his pension his rank is listed as Dragoon, which is a name for cavalry soldier. After the war all of the cavalry units were disbanded. His wife Joanna received $50 twice a year from 1836-1850 to compensate for his service. He married at the age of 26 and died in South Carolina at the age of 60.
Jonathan Aaron Taylor (1760 – 1820)
3rd great-grandfather
John Samuel Taylor (1798 – 1873)
son of Jonathan Aaron Taylor
William Ellison Taylor (1839 – 1918)
son of John Samuel Taylor
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of William Ellison Taylor
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor
Jonathan Taylor enlisted in service in Cumberland County, Virginia. He was discharged at Cambridge in South Carolina on June 9, 1781. He was wounded at the Battle of Herrington, N. J., and also was in the Battles of Brandywine and Monmouth in New Jersey. He served under Col. Bailee and Col. William Washington.
revolutionary pension
Engineer Father, Archetypal Errors
January 21, 2016
— 4 Comments
Dick fishing with his dad, aunt and uncle
My father was a petroleum engineer by profession. He had a PHD in industrial engineering (computers) from Texas A&M, and taught in the petroleum department of that university until his retirement at an advanced age. He started his life with a schoolteacher mother and a father who drilled oil wells before the invention of the rotary bit. He was born in Independence, Kansas, in the Cherokee Strip, in 1920. The affluence the oil boom provided to the area was unprecedented anywhere in the world at the time. His undergraduate degree from Oklahoma University in the 1940’s was earned with a slide rule, his PHD in the 1960’s was figured on a main frame computer that filled a large building on campus, but had only a little bit more power than that slide rule. Only a true engineer could love computers at that time, and my father was completely smitten. He used to rave about the amazing power of data processing at the dinner table when I was in high school. I thought he was just nuts.
The engineer archetype was the dominant feature in my dad’s personality. He was mathematical to a fault because he always tried to prove his own assumptions with his “research”. He had no mechanical ability, no tools, and no inclination to fix things around the house. He was master of the lawnmower and the Hasty Bake smoker, but my mother was in charge of repairs and maintenance of every kind. I think my dad had a hammer and a screwdriver, but the garage shelves were filled with chemicals, crude oil in jars, and fishing gear. Tools were not featured at all. He was famous in the field of petroleum engineering, but to those who knew him best, his family, he was absent minded and out of touch with reality. When both of my parents became hot air balloon pilots in their 60’s it was my mother who repaired the balloon and drove the chase car. My dad took unreasonable risks flying balloons, and made some very hard landings as a result. He injured himself in one of those hard landings to the point that he gave up commercial flights. His positive ability of the engineer to design innovative solutions for problems seemed to by limited to oil fields, but not apply to real life. He was connected to the mechanical, but not the emotional reality of all things. This took him to some dark places with serious consequences for both him and our family.
The father archetype, when true to its higher purpose, is a caring, protective, guiding force to his family and tribe. Abusive reliance on dictatorial attitudes characterize the shadow aspect of the father. Although my dad was playful, loving, and fun, his fathering was of the controlling authoritarian variety. He was not concerned as much with support and guidance as he was with appearances. His father, my grandfather, was the man I looked to for protection and wisdom. After my grandpa passed away there was only a kind of space cadette petroleum engineer to fill his shoes. Intellectualism does not a father make.
I am not saying he failed completely as a dad. He read Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and other books to me aloud. He did lots of excellent chemistry experiments with me and brought me chemicals and dry ice from his lab. As a fellow alchemist I thought he was the bomb (he taught me to make them). He also took great pains to teach me how to fish. I did like fishing very much when I was a child. Do you have an archetypal father, gentle reader? Positive or negative? Most are a mixture of both.
Saturday is for Saturn
January 16, 2016
— 3 Comments
Saturn
The Roman god of agriculture, Saturn, rules Saturday. This is the only day that retains the original Latin in the English name today. For many it is a day of rest, and for some it has religious context. The golden age on earth which is celebrated at Saturnalia was a time when Cronos, the Greek Titan, escaped and ruled from Rome for a time. Cronos ate his own children, and was eventually defeated and expelled from Olympus by his son Zeus. Saturn and Cronos represent the same energy, and modern father time is symbolic of both of them. He frequently has a sickle in his left hand and wheat in his right to show his mastery of planting and harvest. He is said to have brought a golden age to Italy by showing the previously wild population how to grow food.
The holiday Saturnalia began 17 December and lasted for a week. All businesses were closed and slaves were served by the masters during this symbolic restoration of the Alchemy of Consciousness, the golden age. Good will and gifting, banquets and gatherings, all resembled the December festivities of now. Saturn is the judge as well as the treasurer. Saturn bestows wealth and has the ability to dissolve social hierarchy. His powers pertain to limitations. Time is a seriously limiting force, and Saturn reminds us of that fact. When Saturday rolls around every week we are another week older, and accounting is in order for all of us. What have we grown this week? What will be the harvest?
- kindness
- abundance
- organization
- investments in infrastructure
- upgrades to our home environment
- stability
Saturn wants us to build on success with full awareness of all of our limitations.
father time
Jeffrey Horney, 9th Great-grandfather
January 11, 2016
— 1 Comment
Third Haven Meeting House
My 9th great-grandfather sailed to America with his parents in 1685. His family may have been fleeing religious persecution, common for Quakers in England. He seems to have prospered in his new home in Maryland.
Jeffrey was called a planter as were most of the early English immigrants; they were here to plant a new nation. Jeffrey and Elizabeth were in Easton, Maryland in 1685, and were of the Nicholite pursuasion (sometimes called Quakers or reffered to as Friends.) Jeffrey Horney assisted in Erecting the Friends Meeting House in 1685, the Third Haven Friends Meeting.
Jeffrey owned land in Kent (now Queen Anns) Co., Maryland on the north side of Chester River and on the west side of Unicorn Branch of Willmore’s Fork, which was called “Dixon’s Gift.” A tract of 900 acres known as “cottingham” was purchased from Isaac Abrams 20 Nov 1712. Other Maryland land records show him with 200 acres, “the Freshes”, surveyed 15 May 1681. Talbot Co. records show “… the provisiions for workmen to be pressed at Jeffrey Horney’s July 25, 1685.”
Jeffrey Horney (1675 – 1738)
is my 9th great-grandfather
Jeffrey Horney (1723 – 1779)
son of Jeffrey Horney
Mary Horney (1741 – 1775)
daughter of Jeffrey Horney
Esther Harris (1764 – 1838)
daughter of Mary Horney
John H Wright (1803 – 1850)
son of Esther Harris
Mary Wright (1816 – 1873)
daughter of John H Wright
Emiline P Nicholls (1837 – )
daughter of Mary Wright
Harriet Peterson (1856 – 1933)
daughter of Emiline P Nicholls
Sarah Helena Byrne (1878 – 1962)
daughter of Harriet Peterson
Olga Fern Scott (1897 – 1968)
daughter of Sarah Helena Byrne
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Olga Fern Scott
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse
Jeffrey Horney I was born. circa 1675, in England. He was the son of Geoffrey Horney and Juliana . Jeffrey Horney I emigrated in 1685 from England. He married Elizabeth Harwood, daughter of Elizabeth Garey, circa 1696 at Talbot, Maryland. Jeffrey Horney I died before 27 March 1738 at Talbot, Maryland.8
Family
Elizabeth Harwood b. c 1680, d. b Jan 1737/38
Children
William Horney b. 1718
Jeffery Horney II+ b. 1720, d. b 8 Jun 1779
Phillip Horney b. c 1723
James Horney b. c 1725
Prisillia Horney b. c 1726
Jane Horney b. c 1728
Liddy Horney b. c 1728
Ann Horney b. c 1729
Elizabeth Judith Perkins
December 22, 2015
— 2 Comments
Perkins COA
My 10th great-grandmother was born in England and died in Massachusetts. She sailed to the new world with her parents and settled in Ipswich. She probably met her husband there. They moved to Newbury and then to Amesbury, MA, where they laid down some very litigious history in the records of the courts of that town. It seems her husband was the more litigious of the two, but I am grateful for the records, so we know something about them today.
Elizabeth came to America with her family aboard the Lyon, William Pierce, master on 1 December 1630 for its first trip to the New World. They embarked in Bristol, England and arrived in Nantasket, Suffolk co., MA on 5 February 1631.
The Sargent family were some of the original settlers of the Agawam section of Ipswich, Essex co., MA, with William receiving 12 acres in the 1634 Ipswich Land Grant. The family later moved to Newbury, Essex co., MA; Hampton, Rockingham co., NH; Salisbury, Essex co., MA and finally Amesbury, Essex co., MA. Remember that NH & ME were all part of MA at the time. The family moved from Newbury to Hampton because “…’Willli[am] Sergant’ was amongst the list of petitioners mostly Newbury men who were headed by Stephen Bachiler, who were on 6 September 1638 granted ‘liberty to begin a plantation at Winnacunnet [what is now Hampton, Rockingham co., NH]..” And “Will[iam] Sargent” is listed as one of the married men in the list of first comers to Hampton.
The Sargents found themselves in court over disputes with their neighbors on many occasions. Given the fact that this pattern of contentiousness continued after Eliabeth’s death, I contend that William was the fractious party in the area. On 26 December 1643, William “Sargeant” sued Mr. William Hook of Salisbury for 56s. in corn[67,68]. William acknowledged the court’s judgment in favor of Mr. Jonathan Wade on 26 September 1648. Michael Spencer sued him for detaining corn and other goods on 2 January 1650.
But the biggest battles were reserved for their near neighbors, the Martins. Either William or his namesake son was sued for slander on 13 April 1669, because the Sargent in question had called Martin’s wife “a witch”. The bad blood transcended generations, for Martin later sued William’s son Thomas Sargent “…for saying that his son George Martin was a bastard and that Richard Martin was Goodwife Martin’s imp…”
In 1672, William Sargent and Joanna his second wife sued Christopher Osgood for debt due part of the estate of Joanna’s late husband, Valentine Rowell. However, Joanna was curiously not mentioned in his will, although she had married him a few months earlier. To contemporary credible researchers, this strongly suggests that there was a pre-nuptial agreement between them which left Joanna nothing.
Elizabeth Judith Perkins (1611 – 1670)
is my 10th great-grandmother
Mary Sargent (1634 – 1716)
daughter of Elizabeth Judith Perkins
John Challis (1655 – 1741)
son of Mary Sargent
Mary Challis (1699 – 1739)
daughter of John Challis
Amos Nicholls (1740 – )
son of Mary Challis
Amos Nicholls (1780 – )
son of Amos Nicholls
Amos Nicholls (1808 – 1868)
son of Amos Nicholls
Emiline P Nicholls (1837 – )
daughter of Amos Nicholls
Harriet Peterson (1856 – 1933)
daughter of Emiline P Nicholls
Sarah Helena Byrne (1878 – 1962)
daughter of Harriet Peterson
Olga Fern Scott (1897 – 1968)
daughter of Sarah Helena Byrne
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Olga Fern Scott
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse
Elizabeth PERKINS was christened/baptized on 3 MAR 1611 in Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England. She immigrated on 1 DEC 1630 from England to America. She died on 18 SEP 1670 at Amesbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. She has Ancestral File Number 7TTF-7J. Elizabeth’s father came from England in the ship “Lyon” with Roger Williams, in 1631; lived in Boston two years; settled in Ipswich in 1633;
Sailed on the “LYON”, William Peirce, Master, from Bristol December 1, 1630, and arrived February 5, 1631, with about twenty passengers and two hundred tons of goods.
SOURCE: 1. Ancestral File (TM), data as of 2 January 1996, Family History Library, 35 North West Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150
2. Perkins Family in Ye Olden Times. p 78-79 (B11C27)
3. Old Families of Salisbury & Amesbury, Mass by Hoyt, p 281 (Mass S&)
4. Dawes & Allied Families by Mary Walton Ferre, p 484-85 (B12F12)
5. Planters of the Commonwealth, Charles E. Banks 1930
6. Hoyt’s “Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury” page 281/282 (John Perkins #12)
Fermenting Foods with Garden Goddess
December 18, 2015
— 4 Comments
questions answered
paleo snacks
bone broth explained
kraut fans
kraut fans
My latest craze is making sauerkraut. I discovered Garden Goddess Ferments products at a farmer’s market in Scottsdale a couple of weeks ago. We returned to Phoenix the following weekend to buy more sauerkraut and attend a workshop about making fermented foods. Suzette Smith of Garden Goddess Ferments organized an expo with break out learning sessions at the Office Pile. The space was perfect for the event, and many interested patrons turned out to learn more about eating healthy food. Healthy snacks, bone broth, personal chef services, and health coaching tables greeted guests, and classes were held both upstairs and in a conference room.
The fermented food class Suzette taught was so basic, simple, and informative that anyone could leave and go make kraut after attending. She told us about the benefits of the natural probiotic cultures and how she created her own delicious line of small batch artisanal krauts which she sells to the public. She also has for sale hand made crocks and cabbage shredders for the home fermenter. She forgot to bring the tool with which she had planned to mash the cabbage, so while she gave her informative lecture she pounded the cabbage with her fist until it yielded enough liquid to submerge itself. It really drove home the primitive, and as Suzette stressed in the class, forgiving nature of this process. If you have a glass or stainless steel vessel, a cabbage, a small amount of salt and a fist you can preserve food like our ancient ancestors. The mixture was rubbing up immediately, demonstrating the basic chemistry involved. This is the most natural way to preserve food and keep it alive.
It is so simple I can’t believe we are not all doing it all the time. I am hooked. I had both succeeded and failed in the past with large batch kraut in a ceramic crock. After seeing the class I understood that I had used too much salt and left it in the crock too long. Other students reported the same thing. This is what we got for following directions. This is one of those hands on experiences, like bread baking, that can be best learned by personal observation. Suzette is enthusiastic about the healthy possibilities and has developed a range of zesty flavorful krauts containing very healthy ingredients such as ginger, garlic and turmeric. The difference between her products and commercial krauts is the living probiotic culture present in the home made version. Bubbbie’s is the only live sauerkraut I know on the market, but she does not have anything like the range of flavors Garden Goddess offers. Suzette also creates seasonal varietals. Right now at home I have Kowboy Kraut, finished with cumin, Kristmas Kraut with some apple and my favorite, Power Kraut, made with red cabbage, garlic, ginger, and turmeric. She is constantly creating new and exciting combinations. If you live in the Phoenix area I urge you to run right out and buy some Garden Goddess kraut. Your digestion will thank you for it.
Suzette in her kitchen
Suzette in her kitchen
The Garden Goddess
Rev. Henry Nichols, Missionary to Pennsylvania
November 23, 2015
— 8 Comments
St. David’s Church, Radnor, Pa.
My 8th great grandfather was born in Wales and died in Maryland. He came to Pennsylvania on a mission for the Anglican church. He wrote his own epitaph in Latin which is telling about his beliefs. He was harsh on himself.
Rev. Henry Nicholls, B.A., 1703 & M.A., 1715, Jesus College, Oxford, Wales. He was sent to Pennsylvania, 1702-1708, during the reign of King James II. He ministered at Chester, Pennsylvania. The Chester Church is described as of good brick fabric, one of the neatest on the continent, furnished with handsome furniture and pews. He also served St. David’s Church, Radnor, Pa. and at Concord and Montgomery, Pa. Later, he was transferred to St. Michael’s Parish, Talbot Co., Maryland where he served, 1708-1749, (41 years).
From William King and Virginia Watkins – Their Ancestors and Descendents compiled by Maellen King Ford
Henry Nichols was the first residential missionary to Pennsylvania for the “Society for Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts“, arriving in 1703. His churches were located in Chester, Concord, Radnor, and Montgomery. The members were regular and constant in divine worship, and they contributed 60 pounds a year toward their pastor’s support. The Radnor Church is still in excellent preservation, known as St. David’s Church and has been in use since 1708. Rev Nichols requested a transfer in 1708 and became rector at St. Michael’s Parish Church. Talbot Co., MD – a post he occupied until his death. For years, all records of his life were lost. The early church books had disappeared! Until June 1878 when workmen, employed to demolish the old church building, found his tomb under the Chancel in good preservation.
The following is a translation of the Latin inscription found on the slab over his tomb: “Here lies the remains of Henry Nicols, M. A., formerly a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, England, and a pastor of this church for 41 years – most unworthy. Born April 1st, 1678; died Feb. 12, 1748. Save his soul, O Christ for Thy own merits. Tread upon salt without savor.” (Henry has ordered these works to be inscribed before his death.) A number of his descendents still worship at St. Michael’s Church. They placed a tablet there to his memory where he ministered for so long. (From the Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 1943, by Mary Clement, M. A., Principal of the Girls County School Board, Bridgend, Glamorganshire, Wales.)
Rev. Henry Nichols (1678 – 1748)
is my 8th great grandfather
William Nicholls (1709 – 1776)
son of Rev. Henry Nichols
Amos Nicholls (1740 – )
son of William Nicholls
Amos Nicholls (1780 – )
son of Amos Nicholls
Amos Nicholls (1808 – 1868)
son of Amos Nicholls
Emiline P Nicholls (1837 – )
daughter of Amos Nicholls
Harriet Peterson (1856 – 1933)
daughter of Emiline P Nicholls
Sarah Helena Byrne (1878 – 1962)
daughter of Harriet Peterson
Olga Fern Scott (1897 – 1968)
daughter of Sarah Helena Byrne
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Olga Fern Scott
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse
War
November 19, 2015
— 1 Comment
“That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained; And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed; Until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and good-will; Until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven; Until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.”
Haile Selassie address to United Nations Oct 6, 1963
Many music fans may think that Bob Marley wrote the lyrics to the popular song War. The song was created to immortalize a speech given at the UN in 1963. We are farther from the dream of lasting peace around the world than we were in 1963 because technology has served good and evil with equal measure. Now war moves faster and can potentially do much more damage quickly. I always loved this song and the idea that a tiny man from Africa delivered this truth, eloquence, and enlightenment to the United Nations. It was prophetic.
It has always made me feel uplifted because as I sing along I get louder and more committed as we arrive at the part about the victory of good over evil…right over wrong, yeah. I am one of those who fiercely believes in that victory in the long run. At this time I am having problems envisioning how the good is going to mange this conquest. Most people in history were dragged into war, forced to fight, because it is insane to take these violent risks. The ease with which the youth now is being convinced to start and end a private suicide war shows how far out of control this war/peace balance is. We must find ways to support compassion and fairness on earth because our futures depend on it. Jah, Ras Tafari, gentle reader. Keep the faith, baby.
mermaidcamp 