The Freedom Trail

Before I begin properly, can I just say that I know how boring other people’s holiday snaps can be. So I’ve put them in a video thingy – you can choose to look at them or not. It’s entirely up to you and I won’t be offended if you choose not to.

One of the main features of the tourist-y side of Boston is the freedom trail – a red line that’s painted or embedded in the pavements leading from Boston Common to the Bunker Hill monument (or the USS Constitution, depending which route you follow at the last wee bit). Fortuitously our hotel was right on the trail towards the end – this was a handy navigational aid for us.

On our first full day we followed most of the trail – working backwards. This meant that we were going against the flow (aye, I know – nothing new in that for me), but also that we saw things from a slightly different perspective. Anyway wandering through the streets of the North End was really fascinating (although there did seem to be a lack of coffee shops open!)

By lunchtime we had arrived at Faneuil Hall where the ‘patriots’ plotted the Revolution. Anyway, right next to Faneuil Hall is Quincy Market, which is a great place to eat and be entertained. The central section of the Market is wall-to-wall food outlets serving almost every sort of cuisine – except haggis! Outside you’ll find street entertainers. Later on we discovered (or were misled if it’s not true!) that the performers have to audition to be allowed to do their stuff around the Market. They don’t get paid by the Market, they earn whatever passer-by ‘tip’ them. Some of them were really good. We saw a very good and funny juggler/clown, a group of kids doing breakdancing or hip hop or something (not sure about these sort of categories) and a very good singer/songwriter. I really liked her stuff – a bit of Suzanne Vega maybe? She’s called Cheryl B Engelhardt and if you look very closely you can see her in the bottom left corner of one of my photos. (What do you mean you didn’t look at them? I’m officially offended!) Cheryl has a website – it’s worth checking out and you can hear tracks from her second album on her myspace page.

Back to the Freedom Trail – it meanders on through the city centre past various sites of interest until it reaches Boston Common. If you’re ever in Boston it’s worth the walk, and you can get guided tours from the Park Rangers in period costume. However, I’d recommend taking one of the trolley tours, which will also let you see other parts of the city.

They may not have as much history as us, but they do it well – and probably know their history a lot better than we know ours.

tell-tale signs

Sometimes the wee things tell you as much about the character of a town as the more obvious displays of history and tradition!

I love the contrast between Silver Street and Clay Path!

Religious extremism ... in Dunkeld!!

More ponderings/ramblings on our visit to Dunkeld yesterday.

The wee cathdedral is "a game of two halves". The original cathedral was destroyed during a fit of un-controlled iconoclasm during the Scottish Reformation in 1560. The leaders of the Reformation ordered that the statues and icons and such-like should be removed, but that the building should not be damaged. The zeal (or greed?) of the mob got the better of them and the cathedral was destroyed.

I'm pleased to say that there is still an active, lovely wee kirk at one end of the building (unlike St Andrews where something similar happened).

Powerful thing, religious emotion - easy to incite, difficult to control. Sounds familiar?

It strikes me that it's all too easy to judge the motives and behaviours of others - but if we look at our own history, there are parallels that are due to human behaviour - not creeds or beliefs.

Life after death

This will be the last entry for the time being about our visit to London. Originally we planned the trip to see the Terracotta Army exhibition at the British Museum – but we couldn’t get tickets. So we decided to go to the Tutankhamun exhibition instead.

Having paid quite handsomely for the tickets, we then read some reviews that were less than glowing! I thought it was fantastic and fascinating. There’s a photo essay at the Time website which will give an impression of the exhibits.

I was intrigued by the extraordinary lengths that the Pharoahs went to model this life in the next. Apart from the elaborate coffins and containers for mummified organs, they also included models of fruit and everyday household articles (jugs, bowls etc). They also (in a similar way to the Chinese emperor) provided servants for the afterlife. The Egyptian shabti could perform any required work in the afterlife.

In ancient Egypt the Pharoah was seen as an intermediary between man and the gods in his earthly life, who was destined for divinity after death. I didn’t know (or had forgotten that King Tut’s dad had reformed their polytheistic religion, and introduced worship of one god. These reforms were reversed by King Tut.

So what else intrigued me? Well, at the time I was struck by some curious things that may reflect prophetically in ways that are beyond our comprehension. (What am I talking about?)

The hieroglyph that means ‘life’ is called ‘ankh’ – spot it in the middle of King Tut’s name! The cross as life – interesting?

Also, the symbols of power that the pharaoh carried (equivalent to the orb and sceptre of our monarchs) were a flail and a shepherd’s crook. Seems to be some resonance here too.

This week I’ve been reading some of the passages from Exodus about the priestly garments and paraphernalia – there are some parallels in terms of the intricate detail of the breastpiece etc., although I’m not sure what conclusions to reach – if any – about this.

Of course, I couldn’t ignore the incredible injustice that must have existed in ancient Egypt – with so much wealth and activity consumed by the preparations for the Pharoah’s eternal well-being. Forced labour, exploitation and greed aren’t a new phenomenon – nor are they only in the past!

Any negatives about the exhibition? Well, there were no queues thanks to timed tickets, the exhibition wasn’t too crowded after the first room or so as we managed to spread out. There was an exquisite beauty about many of the exhibits. However, inevitably the exhibition concluded by forcing you into the shop. Filled with overpriced King Tut tat, it was a disappointing end to a well presented, intriguing and (for me) thought-provoking event.

Cluttered marketplace

Still on about stuff from "Out of the Storm". I had been planning to use this quotation today anyway, but it seems to link to some of the comments under the 'question everything' post.

“The Catholic church had become a cluttered marketplace where a variety of theological, ethical and psychological merchandise was being energetically hawked to a bemused clientele. It should not surprise us that this was so, for the situation today is not markedly different. Among the bewildering variety of Christian denominations and networks some are wedded to sacramentalist ritual, some espouse fiery Pentecostalism, some see themselves as caretakers of old buildings and traditions, some proclaim an intellectualised liberal theology while others trumpet an unthinking fundamentalism and there are those which would have difficulty defining clearly what they do stand for. Were Luther to return he would find few churches marching proudly under the banner of the biblical evangel whose discovery cost him so dear.”

When I read this I was a bit taken aback. Aye, I know that the analysis of the church and our denominationalism is not particularly earth-shattering; but is that how the church really looks? Are the things that divide us so prominent? Does this mean that what unites us is obscured?

Then I thought that the image of a marketplace might have some advantages in our consumerist society – you know, choose whichever church ‘tickles your fancy’. But I can’t convince myself of this. Maybe we need some consultants to solve our image problems – like a new logo or even change our name!!

Out of the storm

I recently read this book by Derek Wilson, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Wilson presents Luther as a passionate individual, who sometimes finds trouble by sticking rigidly to his position. (Naturally, this appeals to me.)

It’s over 20 years since I read Bainton’s ‘Here I stand’, so comparisons are difficult. But my impression from reading Wilson is that there is less of a heroic emphasis on Luther. While Wilson clearly admires him, he does show Luther in unfavourable light at certain times.

“We must feel the force of his passion because, if we do not, we have not got close to the real man.”

For me, it felt like Wilson was close to capturing the real man.

I particularly enjoyed the final section of the book when the author assesses the impact of Luther over the intervening centuries, up to our times. It is a fascinating analysis and well worth reading.

Reflecting on the book – from a personal perspective – maybe I need to be more aware of the possible consequences of ‘taking a stand’, and learn to pick my battles more carefully. It’s not about avoiding defeat, so much as being sure that winning is worth the cost.

Plus ca change …plus c’est la meme chose?

I’ve just finished reading “The Guns of August” by Barbara Tuchman, recounting the early days of the First World War. It was written in 1962 (when I was born). I bought it after seeing the film “Thirteen Days” – about JFK and the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. What’s the connection? Well, President Kennedy had read Tuchman’s book when it was published. (Leaders and learning – but I won’t go on about it today.) He drew parallels between the lessons from the book and the Cuban missile crisis. It was a new situation, with new technology, yet his advisers (especially the military) trotted out the same old advice. No learning there then!

Which got me wondering – when do we need to recognise that circumstances have changed so that the ‘same old’ solutions won’t work? Tuchman tells us that the French military staff refused to believe that the Germans would invade through Belgium because they “believed the arguments against such a maneuver more telling than the evidence for it”. Why let evidence get in the way of your prejudices?

Some of the problems faced by the French were attributed to the leaders: “general officers … performed the functions of corporals, not commanders.”

Finally, reflecting at the end of her book on the whole war she writes:

“Men could not sustain a war of such magnitude and pain without hope – the hope that its very enormity would ensure that it could never happen again … Nothing less could give dignity or sense to monstrous offensives in which thousands and hundreds of thousands were killed to gain ten yards and exchange one wet-bottomed trench for another.”


"History is the sum total of the things that could have been avoided."
Konrad Adenauer

Iraq, anyone?