Heaven and earth will
pass away, but my words will
never pass away
Interesting that the verse, Matthew 24:35 in the New International Version has 17 syllables.
Tailor made for the job of today’s haiku.
Tailor made when I have been thinking about what and how and who will last in all of the this.
Celebrated 244 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence the other day.
There has been a national discussion of late on the country’s history.
Its’ meaning.
Its’ representation through those 244 years.
Most of the discussion is on how we should remember our own history.
I cannot help thinking of our 244 years of history without thinking of some odd factoids that float around in my brain.
One of them concerns the family of one Guy of Lusignan.
Friend Guy bought the island of Cyprus from the Knights Templar back 1192.
It was during the Crusades and Guy more or less side stepped over the fighting for Jerusalem and with the backing of Richard the Lionhearted, established him and his family as the King of the Kingdom of Cyprus.
Guy and his heirs ruled Cyprus for almost 300 years, staying in charge until 1489.
Ever hear of Guy?
The other factoid I think about is an anecdote about John K. Galbraith.
It really bothers me because I cannot come up with a citation.
I know I read it and that I read it several times, but I cannot come up with the book I read it in.
Never the less, I repeat the story for you now.
In 1957, Mr. Galbraith found himself working for Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) and part of a project to go out into rural India and make a statistical abstract that showed the impact on rural India in the 10 years since the end of British Colonial rule.
The Brits had run India as a colonial cottage industry for 350 years.
Over night they were gone.
Now 10 years later, it was time to assess the damage or the benefit to the rural parts of India.
It was easy to look at the major cities and population centers, but how it the removal of 350 years of British rule changed lives in rural India.
Mr. Galbraith recounted that the survey went on for a month or two and all the research teams were called back.
There was a problem with the research.
The problem was that when they got into the small town and villages, far away from the city centers, and asked, “How has life been since the British?”
The answer again and again in town after town was, “Who?”
So we are 244 years old.
Maybe we should start to worry IF we are remembered, not how.
No Haiku For You 