Personal Reflections on St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Did you know that, in essence, Patrick was a missionary?

St. Patrick, whose Irish name is Padraig, was a Briton captured by the Irish Celts and forced into slavery.  Eventually he returned to his native England, but then went back to Ireland to share the Gospel with the Irish.  Instead of turning his back on the Irish, he returned to save his enslavers, demonstrating the love of Christ.  He faced many dangers, such as hostile chieftains and the Devil seeking to keep Ireland in his clutches.

Through Patrick's ministry, many Irish were saved.  Irish monks in turn, traveled to Scotland and spread God's good news there.  Because St. Patrick returned to the Irish, Ireland has a Christian heritage and because of the monasteries that were established, we now have such treats today as The Book of Kells and beautiful Irish poems written to the glory of God.

It seems that no one remembers this. For many it is just a day to wear green, drink green beer, and get trashed.

Celtic Cross  (PD Photo.org)

But what is the real meaning of St. Patrick's Day?

While St. Patrick's Day is a nice day to celebrate the Irish and Irish heritage, it is also more than just that. It is a day to remember St. Patrick. This can mean different things for different people.

For me personally, it is a day to thank God for sending Patrick to the Irish and for remembering the missionaries like him around the world.  When I think of St. Patrick, I thank God that He sends out people like Patrick to call people of all nations to Christ. I thank God for His mercy and the way in which He works through our feebleness to accomplish the salvation of many.

Quotes by St. Patrick:  http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/saint_patrick.html

Stone of Destiny

The Stone housed in the coronation chai

          The Stone of Scone, also called, The Stone of Destiny, is a rock on which the kings of Scotland are crowned.  The English stole it from the Scots and began crowning their kings on it too, thereby making the King of England the King of Scotland also.
          Stone of Destiny, a 2008 film, tells the story of the recapture of this Scottish symbol.  In the 1950s, a handful of Scots set out to bring back the stone and awaken patriotism and passion in their fellow Scotsmen.
          Throughout the film, Robert Burn's beautiful ballad, Scots Wha hae, plays in the background. Sometimes it whispers through the scenes light and delicate; sometimes, when it is played on the bagpipes (the epitome of Scottish music), it marches with strength and vigor.
         This song (my favorite) is very appropriate for the theme of the movie.  It is about the Scottish fight for freedom from the English led by William Wallace and Robert the Bruce.  It is a passionate song about standing up to tyranny and fighting and dying for freedom. The film is also about the Scottish fight for freedom.  By retrieving the stone, these men and women hoped to bring hope and pride to the Scottish people and encourage them to join the nationalist cause that was seeking to gain greater sovereignty for Scotland.
         The music winds through the movie, highlighting the same old fight (England Vs. Scotland), the same old problems (cowards and traitors), and the same old passion (the willingness to lay down one's life to liberate one's country).
          One verse of the song reads, "wha can fill a coward's grave, wha will be a traitor knave, wha sae base as be a slave? Let him turn and flee!" (See glossary below).  In the film, Bill excused himself from making the attempt by saying that he was about to graduate and get married and did not want to put his future on the line in an attempt to rekindle the Scot's dream of freedom. By no means a traitor, he would rather be a "slave" so he figuratively turned and fled.

          The stone thieves stood staunchly around the stone knowing the police were on the way to arrest them, almost smiling as the wailing sirens approached.  My heart sang Burn's lyrics:

 "By oppressions woes and pains

 by our sons in servile chains

we will drain our dearest veins

but they shall be free."

          They sought a better future for Scotland, putting their lives on hold: "we shall drain our dearest veins." They submitted to "oppressions woes and pains,"  in hopes of Scotland's future freedom: "but they shall be free."
         Currently Scotland is in control of all her internal affairs while England controls her foreign policy. Yet, Scotland's yearning for sovereignty has not died: steps towards a complete separation of Scotland are currently in the works and the movement recently gained more support. 
Read Sky News' blog post (titled Scots Wha Hae!) for more information: http://blogs.news.sky.com/boultonandco/Post:bdd69b74-a49a-4b85-9fd3-fffc3a94c89f

IMBd Stone of Destiny page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037156/

Scots wha hae lyrics: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/scotlandssongs/secondary/genericcontent_tcm4555675.asp

Scot's Dialect Glossary

wha -- who

hae --have

sae -- so

Counts, Captains, and Comparisons

Athos, also known as le comte de La Fère (Count of Fère), and Captain Haddock of the Tintin cartoons have some circumstantial similarities.
However, I do not think that Hergé was copying Dumas in any way.  The similarities are mostly circumstantial and there is nothing to indicate that Hergé modeled Haddock after Athos.

Ok, here we go:

1. Both men are deplorable alcoholics who can consume large quantities of alcohol.
2. Captain Haddock is a sailor while Athos was destined for a mariner's life by his father until plans changed for one reason or another.
3. Both come from noble families.  Captain Haddock is the descendant of one Sir Francis Haddock. Athos is the Count of Fère.
4. Both went through hard times.  Athos fled from his lands and title after he tried to kill Milady. He became a musketeer and during this period of his life he drank excessively.  When Tintin first meets Haddock, he is the captain of a ship in name only. The first-mate calls the shots. He is also extremely drunk on the occasion (and frequently is throughout all the books).
5. Both men move onto estates.  Athos moves into Bragelonne Castle and takes up again the noble name of, le comte de La Fère (Count of Fère).  Haddock moves into his ancestral abode, Marlinspike Hall. 
6. Both have close young friends with whom they go on dangerous adventures. Athos has D'Artagnan who is like a son too him. Captain Haddock has Tintin. Although they don't have a father/son relationship, they are good friends and feel responsible for each other.
7. The Tintin comics and Dumas' musketeer novels are tales of adventure, intrigue, danger, and travel. 
8.The stories in which these men figure were originally written in French.  Dumas was from France; Hergé, from Belgium.

I hope this was interesting! 

A photo I took on the Atlantic off the coast of Bretagne

Chicken à la king

Henri IV, King of France, said "I want the peasants to put a chicken in the pot every Sunday."  The king's kind wish has a striking resemblance to President Herbert Hoover's campaign slogan: "A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage"
Interesting that they both used chicken to represent a good meal, but why not?

Machiavelli and a Musketeer

"Here a question arises: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse.  The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved." -Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
Aramis expresses similar ideas in Twenty Years After, "My first opinion had been entirely for the cardinal: I told myself that a minister (of state) is never loved, but with the genius that one accords to this one, he would finish by triumphing  over his enemies and by making himself feared, which, in my opinion, is better maybe than making himself loved." Dumas finds this to be a "doubtful maxim."
Machiavelli lived from 1469-1527. Twenty Years After takes place in 1648 but was written by Dumas in the 1800s.

Translation of the quote from Vingt Ans Après (Twenty Years After) is a mix of my own and the version of the book on The Literature Network.      The Literature Network: Twenty Years After

The Musketeers in Marketing

The four musketeers and their distinctive personalities have been employed as advertisement. I thought this was pretty clever. Although not touching on all the same traits as I, this company also classified the famous four.  They captured certain dominant traits in two words and a cider in the picture and then described each man and the matching cider on the side of their webpage.  The descriptions of the characters are accurate and the descriptions of the ciders fit well with their characters.  Clever, clever. Well done. Even the colors of the cider are appropriate!
Click here to open the cider webpage in a new window.

The Musketeer Series: Post 5, Athos

Athos always seemed to command respect. This is surprising when looking at some of his behavior for he was a heavy drinker and ridiculous gambler in the first book. However he is good with the blade, brave, and possesses nerves of steel. He speaks little, but is observant. This dual feature is one that marks him as a Pleg-Mel.  One of my brothers is the same way.  Dumas tells us directly that Athos is phlegmatic, but doesn't say that he is melancholy, however his sensitivity and deep emotions are evidence of this.

Calm

Phlegmatics are quiet people with a dry wit who love peace and tranquility yet can be tenaciously stubborn (Littauer). They also have a desire to be respected because they can be overlooked due to their quiet steadiness (Littauer). They hide their emotions (Personality Plus 65) and are natural mediators (Littauer). One Phlegmatic flaw is "in-action."  Because they love to take their ease, they are not seeking advancement or trying to finish lots of things like a Choleric. Instead they are content to sit were they fall. According to Littauer, they think of all potential actions in terms of energy conservation: they try to use as little as possible.  When the four friends were in need of money to buy equipment for the military campaign they were about to embark on, each employed their own strategy for finding it.  Athos' was quite unique. He decided that he would do nothing and stay at his lodgings waiting for money to come to him (Dumas). If it did not, then he would find some of Richelieu's soldiers to fight with and die in an honorable dual (Dumas).  The reason for this tactic: he did not want to "risk a step to find equipment." In other words, he did not want to waste a step. He would rather not "waste" energy trying to find equipment but would wait, and if it did not come he would go and die fighting in a duel for the king and save himself the trouble of finding equipment. Certainly eccentric, yet definitely Phlegmtatic.  

Phlegmatics can also be very obstinate (Your Personality Tree 49). Most of the time they just don't care enough to be obstinate, but when they do, they are immovable. Regarding the incident above, Dumas says, "He was resolved to not risk a step to equip himself." To this resolution Athos held firm.  Another time, Athos went ballistic and shut himself and his servant in a wine cellar for 15 days. He more than avenged himself for being falsely accused of paying with fake money (Dumas 358,361).    

One Phleg-Mel trait is the dislike of conversation.  I say this because both my brother and Athos possess this attitude. Athos economizes his words and communicates with his servant by gestures and even rebukes his servant for speaking aloud without permission. In regards to his servant, his philosophy seemed to be, "why use two words when one will suffice? And why use any words when a hand signal will suffice?"  For some Phlegmatics, this desire to cut back on talk stems perhaps stems from their desire to avoid conflict. Discussion can easily turn to debate or to uncomfortable topics. Littauer finds that Melancholies like to work alone because conversation slows progress (Personality Plus 34). For me, as a Melancholy, I find that this is true and that conversation disrupts my thought process for I can't think when people are talking loudly, even if they're not specifically addressing me. And so, putting all of this together I surmise that speech is disruptive to the Phlegmatic's desire for peace and the Melancholy's desire to think deeply.  Phleg-Mels have no use for useless chatter: it requires a response from them which is work and disrupts their thoughts which are engaged on a deeper level and are more important (in their eyes) than small talk.
Littauer tells us that Phelgmatics are not emotional and hide their emotions.  Melancholies on the other hand, are emotional but often hide their feelings deep inside themselves, subtly giving clues or suddenly exploding when they can't take it any longer (atleast, that's what I do).  Athos hides his feelings and can act very calm when he is afraid.  Dumas remarks multiple times the "Sang-froid" of Athos, in other words, his ability to be "calm, cool, and collected," which Littauer in turns declares to be a Phlegmatic trait (with these words exact).
In the sequel Athos received a short visit from his son Raoul. Raoul asked his permission to go and visit some friends which Athos lovingly granted, but as soon as Raoul left the room he laments how quickly the lad's thoughts turned from him to others.  Typical Melancholy. Giving to those they love even when it pains them and feeling hurt about it. They read farther into little things others might not even notice and take them to heart. (Based on Littauer).
There is so much that could be said, so much more that could be analyzed, but this is pretty long already so I think I'll leave off here.... ; )

 « car au milieu de l’effroi général lui seul avait conservé ce calme et ce sang-froid de grand seigneur qui ne le quittaient jamais » -Dumas

"For, in the middle of the general terror, he alone had conserved this calm and this composure of a great lord that quitted him never. -Dumas (Translation by Edana A.)