Placebo

In the summer of 1098, the First Crusade army which had taken the city of Antioch except for the resisting defenders in the citadel, were nearly starved to death and under siege by the relieving Muslim force sent from Damascus under the leadership of Kerbogha.  Without options and little hope, the miraculous happened.  A pilgrim from Provence, Peter Bartholomew, believed he had received a vision from St. Andrew that would lead him to the Holy Lance, the very spear used to pierced the side of Christ.  Despite the fact that two other Holy Lance claiming the same prestige were kept in Rome and Constantinople respectively, a piece of metal was found and believed by the crusaders to be the very spear.  Using it as a moral booster, the crusaders broke through the enemy lines and routed the enemy.  Some among the host including the chronicler Raymond of Aguilers, believed they saw a host from heaven fighting with them in that final battle for the city.  Antioch's defenders in the citadel gave up, and the city remained in the hands of the crusaders for nearly one hundred years after.

The power to persuade, and the placebo effect of items that may or may not have any power to assist in of themselves, is great over the minds of people. Popular commercials and media personalities promoting anything from toasters to two week cruises, attempt to do the same thing in a supposedly modern world devoid of faith.  Sometimes we want to believe something will change so much, that in effect we make it happen through sheer will. There is great power in this, and something that many a politician has used to sway the minds of people.  This is something that is not likely to change any time soon, but a point to take into consideration when next you see something on the television, on the computer, or simply read in a passing periodical

Future

It may seem an absurd observation, but I noted the other day with surprise the sheer volume of possibilities when it comes to picking out one's most mundane and basic supplies.  My local Target carries at least five different brands of paper towels, the cheapest being $3.99 for two rolls (generic too!).  On the other hand, the toilet paper selection is borderline luxurious with seven or eight various brands promising comfort, culture and class differentiation due to their price points!  I am struck by the sheer volume of selection and access to higher quality goods all at one local stop.

As compared to the ancient or medieval world, our local stores make us the equivalent to the great mercantile cities of the Mediterranean.  Alexandria, Constantinople, Cordoba and Venice could not rival in many ways the readily accessible goods available to most of our society in the First World.  Yet for all our potential for positive changes made by having our basic and not so basic needs met, both socially and culturally, we have not changed much from our predecessors.  In fact we seem to have regressed.

Societies of the past found they had to innovate, invent, or find a way around a problem.  Many of these problems have been taken care of for us, so the question arises: what do we do with the time and luxuries we have?  Rather than just exist and get by from day to day, the fact that we ride on the shoulders of men and women who had to work for this relatively calm and prosperous present, we should advance on their legacy of hard work.  The generations that follow are as equally deserving of a brighter future, just as we received it from our forebearers.  Will this result in better paper products?  Perhaps.  More important, rather than living in the present with a glance to the past, we must also prepare for and look ahead to the future.

History is a Myth

"History is a myth that men agree to believe."

-Napoleon Bonaparte


This somewhat humorous interpretation of the nature of history, says as much about the author as it does about his subject.  Besides commenting on the fact that the recorders and interpreters of past events control the direction of historical memory, the famous conqueror was dealing subtly with his own mortality.  As all men and women who have done great things (or otherwise), achievements beg recognition and remembrance.  Bonaparte knew that however high he might climb and who he might defeat in his bid for sole European power, one day he would have to leave the stage of life.  Would his legacy, his deeds, survive the scathing words of his enemies after he was gone?

Doubtless Bonaparte would be happy to note that the modern world has given him a wide study, and unlike many other heroes and villains of the past, a much more sympathetic understanding.  The upshot, is that in essence he was right.  Historians in particular make the past come to life in either all of its gory details or more often, smoothed over to hide the blemishes.  Neither should be done to the extreme for it robs the present and the future heirs of this human experience, the knowledge of deeds worth and not so worth emulating.  As much as possible, all aspects of history must be reviewed and considered to get at facts, if history is not to be presented as a compilations of should have been events, and moral points never intended by the authors.  To dispel the myth, honesty of the human condition must be reviewed in all of its splendor and decadence.

-John Lowe (J. Sharp)