[So guess who forgot to schedule their email to send on time? Yep, muggins here got it all written out real good but didn’t click the bloomin’ button. Better late than never yeah?]

I’ve been reading a wonderful book that has swept me through history and two things stood out. Humanity is amazing in its tenacity, ingenuity and creativity. It also often turns these wonderful skills into devastating weapons.

Fiction Bite - They Were Sitting

The riot officers' boots clattered off the tarmac as their batons beat against their shields. Horses whinnied, flanks steaming in the frosty morning as riders test swung clubs and adjusted bulletproof visors. Everyone’s eyes were on the commander, half hidden behind ranks of men. A slight nod sent the mass of armoured men charged as the women wrapped their arms around themselves, and their children. Pounding feet drowned their wails, but not their screams once steel hit flesh.

Quote of the Week

‘History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes’ Possibly from Mark Twain, but there’s dispute. See here https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/01/12/history-rhymes/ for more.

Something to Try

Recently I’ve realised how little I know of world history, and political narratives shape much of what I do. Much of history feels achingly contemporary, problems of globalisation, tetchy trade deals, and pandemics. This week, if you’re so inclined, read about a time or place you know little about. It could be Chinese Silk industry of antiquity and how bolts of fabric ended up in Viking graves in Sweden, or how the Easter Islanders made their statues. It could be a thousand things, but unless we look, we forget what has gone before.

Final Words

What gives me pause is that the people committing the atrocities would have thought they were doing the right thing, or at least had the right end in mind. Al Capone, quoted in Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, explained how anyone would have done what he had, if only they’d shared his experiences. The slave trade, colonisation, religious oppression and genocide are just a few of the terrors that have been, and in places still are, considered acceptable, just the way the world works. Had I lived in the height of the British slave trade, would I have stood up like Wilberforce? More likely, I wouldn’t have noticed a problem, it would just be the state of life.

What am I not noticing now?

With Love

Joe

P.S. What did you think of this week’s email? Which was your favourite bit? What didn’t work? Hit reply and let me know.