checklist for changing?
anger, frustration, fear, want
right person at top
Thinking back over the great revolutions in world history, I went looking for common denominators.
The American Revolution, the French Revolution and the Russian Revolitions.
They all had anger in common.
Frustration and feat and want all in common.
And one other thing.
A real bone head at the top the pyramid.
George III may have been well meaning but he was a well meaning fat head who maybe could not get his arms around the fact that Americans wanted out but for sure did not grasp that any one would not want to be a subject of the Lord’s Anointed on earth.
And even if he wasn’t truly in charge, it seems that a lot of His Majesty’s Government were boneheads.
Take Lord George Germain for example, Secretary of State for the Colonies.
He wrote the orders of General John Burgoyne to march south from Canada along the Hudson River.
The Lord George went to lunch.
When he got back, he forgot all about writing orders to General Henry Clinton to march north from New York up the Hudson River to meet Gentleman Johnny.
The result being that when Johnny came down the Hudson to Saratoga, all he found was a bunch of really mad armed Americans and we had our first big victory of the war.
In France lets start with who was there.
To leave France and settle in Quebec, you had to prove you were a good Catholic and a loyal to the King.
In Great Britain the rule if you don’t love it here, feel free to leave and they did.
In France all the whiners and complainers had to stay in France.
The pro-King people all left.
And when the hungry people complained about being hungry, the Queen suggested Little Debbies.
Her husband, King Louis the whatever they had got to believed it when he said, “French people and above all Parisians … return to your king. He will always be your father, your best friend”
He accepted the crowds as his best friends right up to that last drop of the guillotine.
And Russian leaders.
After the American Revolution, Russians were inspired to launch there own revolution in 1825 when Tsar Alexander died.
It was hoped that Alexander’s brother Constantine, would take over and esatablish a new Russian Constitution.
The Decembrist mob stood outside the royal palace in St. Petersburg yelling Constantine and Constitution, Constantine and Constitution!
True many in the mob thought that Constitution was Constantine’s wife but they were yelling and having a great time.
Inside the palace, Nicholas I, the son and heir of the dead Tsar could hear the crowd.
Whatever they were yelling they were not yelling Nicholas.
So Nicky, a little pissed off, called out the Cossacks.
It is because of this charge that Nicholas I is known as Bloody Nicholas and not his Great Great Grandson, Nicholas II.
Of Nicholas II, wikipedia reports that, “Most commonly, he is described as shallow, weak, stupid—a one-dimensional figure presiding feebly over the last days of a corrupt and crumbling system. This, certainly, is the prevailing public image of the last Tsar. Historians admit that Nicholas was a “good man”—the historical evidence of personal charm, gentleness, love of family, deep religious faith and strong Russian patriotism is too overwhelming to be denied—but they argue that personal factors are irrelevant; what matters is that Nicholas was a bad tsar …. Essentially, the tragedy of Nicholas II was that he appeared in the wrong place in history”
Shallow
Weak
Stupid
Slow
Out of Touch
Feeble
Dumber than a stump.
Dumber than stump water.
Dumb from the neck up.
Start with people.
People frustrated, angry, scarred and looking for answers.
Looking to leaders to provide direction and the lights are on and no one is home.
Kind of reminds me of somewhere.
Kind of reminds me of someone.
Kind of doesn’t fill me with excitement for the future.
No Haiku For You 