My blog postings tend to be
light and fluffy; happy pictures being the main theme. That is not
an accident; I figure most readers have enough care and distractions
in their own lives that they don´t need more from this blog!
If readers do need more misery in their lives, they can find it
elsewhere. - But not here.
Today I am
making an exception. I am inclining myself to an observation,
brought on by two recent events.
The
observation: Sometimes we busy ourselves so much with world concerns
today, and we forget about the things that did get sorted out
yesterday, big big global problems. Huge problems: The Black
Death, the Spanish Flu; T.B. even measles and much much more. And
then on to the horrendous wars and political dramas that effected the
whole world the last three of four centuries or so.
We forget,
because these matters are no longer a concern. This is not a good
thing; I think one can lose perspective if we focus on the problems
of the now and not give at least some consideration to solutions
found in the past. Achievements of the past can give us courage for the now and hope for the future.
And so I
present two situations in my world where the past has evolved into the present.
And
wonderfully so.
1)
Dylen´s Hill.
Attached
photo is of self and friends hanging around very cool and relaxed in
the sun on Dylen´s Hill. (Fashion Police: Please avert eyes.) This hill is not to be confused with the hill where Bob
use to practice his guitar as a young fellah; this is Dylen´s Hill and
it is in the Czech Republic. Dylen´s Hill was in fact part of the Iron
Curtain.
Where I am
sitting and the area in the photo below was part of no man´s land. Before 1989, we would have been
shot and killed sitting there. More accurately, we would have been
shot and killed before we actually got this close to the radio
station seen behind us in the photo.
The radio
masks etc now used for local radio stations were once part of the
Czech Communist Regime ´ears´ to eavesdrop on West Germany. Romeo H´s cousin said, the DDR had its own system to eavesdrop as
did the Western Powers. All three regimes eavesdropping on each
other. All three radio radio masks were in sight of each other. And
all three regimes were aware what the other was at.
Continuing:
The photo below of self before the gates with the dogs: - The
entrance to this radio zone.
The area
would have been very heavily guarded two decades ago. The old dogs no
doubt belonged to the gardener inside who was cutting the grass, and
not there for more sinister reasons. As I stood there, there were
mountain bikers from the Czech Republic and the German Republic
cycling by out of scene.
All
wonderfully wonderfully happy normal things to be enjoying of a
Saturday that no one could have imagined happening
here some some 21 odd years ago.
The Iron
Curtain came down, it got sorted. Hooray.
2)
Hozier Singing at Night in an Empty Croke Park Stadium.
Another
event, closer to home for me, was the world class Irish singer
Hozier´s rendition of Simon and Garfunkel´s ´Bridge over
Troubled Water´ as seen on RTE Television last Saturday
night. The song was preformed to acknowledge the grief of those in
Ireland who lost someone in the last three months or so, and whose
funeral the friends and extended families could not attend because of
Covid-19 restrictions.
The event
was staged in Croke Park Stadium which is in a very busy area of
Dublin City. The stadium can hold up to 80,000 people. The event
was superbly staged; Hozier sang in an empty stadium with only about
15 musicians contributing orchestral back up. It was haunting. It
was beautiful. It was perfect. See for yourself.
https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2020/0626/1149944-hozier-wows-viewers-with-stunning-croker-performance/
So I
watched the clip, in serious ´goose pimple mode´about four times
before it sort of came to me.
A hundred
years ago this year, on 21st of November 1920, during the Irish War
of Independence, 45 people were murdered in Dublin City.
Fourteen of them in Croke Park. It was not a good time in Ireland,
and not a glorious moment for either side. But the memory of those
deaths in Croke Park Stadium a 100 years ago, left a mark on the
combined Irish psyche. (More info. on this event can be found
on the internet.)
Since that
time 100 years ago, great hurling and football and indeed rugby games
have been played in Croke Park. World class games. A life time of
happy memories for millions. Far from the grief and pain - and
mistakes, of the past.
And now
you have Hozier in Croak Park Stadium singing his heart out to offer
solace to the grieving, not to cause grief.
And that
is good so.
So to you
and the other million regular readers of my blog, (give or take
999,995), I know you and the rest of the world are very concerned
about Covid-19 and with good reason. Then there is reason to
concern one´s self with the Donald Tweeting away other there and him all
palsy walsy with Mr. Duda duda-day back up in Poland, and what with Putin plugging
himself all over the place and making himself an eternal president in a democratic election. And Hungary´s Orban being
somewhat less than urbane in his carry on. And let us not forget Mr.
Handsome in North Korea doing whatever he is doing these days. And
we won´t even touch on China, the Middle East or Africa. All
genuine concerns.
That said,
forgetting the successes of the past means you become lost and mired
in the problems of the now. You are as a result, in my opinion, less
likely to focus on solutions in the present nor be hopeful for a
better way forward in the future. For yourself and the world you live
in.
To make my
case: Who among you reading this knows about the Bay of Pigs?
And no, it
is not an inlet in West Kerry where pigs swim with Fungi the
Dolphin.
But most of
you don´t know about it - because it got sorted and so it is longer
a concern. But the Bay of Pigs could have led to World War
III, and that is not me saying that to be a tad
dramatic - it was John F. Kennedy that said that.
So go on,
go and google the Bay of Pigs, and then consider our human past and
ponder on our ability to sort things out, even sometimes to make good
things happen too. Where there is life, there IS hope. Do give
consideration to the hope.
And there
IS much reason for hope; I have a lot of hope in the younger generations
today; many seem not only to want to ´do better for the world´ but thanks to
technology they have the means to move more in that direction too.
And I am sure I am not the
only one to see young people the world over connect more in the
present, sharing with each other commonalities of music, dance, visuals, word. And experience.
For
example, check out Blackpink, a South Korean girl bank.
It is clear to see that Blackpink have taken the English language, influences of American street culture, and no doubt a touch of Bollywood too and the have made them their very Korean
own. While one might likely concur that neither Beyoncé nor
Janet Jackson would need to have concerns about choreographical
challenges from the East, Blackpink´s song ´How You Like
That´ and the staging of same is great. Happy. Fun.
Wonderful.
And not
only that: The group earned a Guinness World Record last Friday
for the number of clicks on YouTube for their new video
- 86.3 million clicks in 24 hours! And there they are with all their
clothes on and still 86.3 million clicks! In only 24 hours! Do consider: S. Korea has a population of 51 million or so, so even if you add
all their cousins and the aunties and the uncles in other countries who clicked, one could safely deduce, it is
more than the locals are enjoying `How You Like That`
https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Music/2020/06/26/Blackpink-returns-with-How-You-Like-That-music-video/2951593189183/?ur3=1
Happy Day to you!
Hausfrau Róisín.
Note:
To anyone who suggests that during the outstanding rendition of ´Bridge
over Troubled Water´ the writer of this blog
was contemplating Hozier´s hair genes, and considering what women
the world over would n´t do to have those hair follicles while
further contemplating that no man at the age of 30 has a right to
such great hair - especially an Irish man, and an Irish man not know to have a hint of African or Spanish blood in his veins at that.
Well
to such suggestions that this blog writer thought such thoughts, all
I can say is: Fake News! That is my story and I am sticking to it.
And ably assisted I was too in this less than world shattering but oh so pleasant task, by Romeo H, as evidenced in the following pictures... 
