I've known men who loved Muhammad Ali. I've known those who hated him. I don't know anyone who did not live in awe of him.
Let's not paper over the controversies. Let us not forget the harder parts of the narrative. In that complex story we find the truth about America: from the beginning we've been striving to reach our ideals and one only strives when they are failing.
"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." In an intellectually and culturally diverse republic I'd say, as iron sharpens iron, one freely shared experience sharpens another. Sometimes when iron strikes iron, there are sparks.
When we honor the "Louisville Lip," we honor the tradition and the history that forged him. A tradition that is as American as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
Antoine Hennepin was born in Ath in the Spanish Netherlands (present-day Hainaut, Belgium). In 1659, Béthune, the town where he lived, was captured by the army ofLouis XIV of France. Henri Joulet, who accompanied Hennepin and wrote his own journal of their travels, called Hennepin a Fleming (i.e. a native of Flanders).
At the request of Louis XIV the Récollets sent four missionaries to New France in May 1675, including Hennepin, accompanied byRené Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. In 1678, Hennepin was ordered by his provincial superior to accompany La Salle on an expedition to explore the western part of New France. Hennepin was 39 when he departed in 1679 with La Salle from Quebec Cityto construct the 45-ton barque Le Griffon, sail through the Great Lakes, and explore the unknown West.
Hennepin was with La Salle at the construction of Fort Crevecouer (near present-day Peoria, Illinois) in January 1680. In February, La Salle sent Hennepin and two others as an advance party to search for the Mississippi River. The party followed the Illinois River to its junction with the Mississippi. Shortly thereafter, Hennepin was captured by a Sioux war party and carried off for a time into what is now the state of Minnesota.[2]In September 1680, thanks to Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Du Lhut, Hennepin and the others were given canoes and allowed to leave, eventually returning to Quebec. Hennepin returned to France and was never allowed by his order to return to North America.[3] Local historians credit the Franciscan Récollet friar as the first European to step ashore at the site of present-day Hannibal, Missouri.[4]
Sometimes your age creeps up on you in an odd way.
This week marked the 37th Anniversary of the Jonestown massacre where 909 people died in the largest mass suicide in modern history. I was a week away from my fifth birthday and the news coverage marks the first world event that I remember.
This was before the nightly newsman warned viewers that the images to follow may not be suitable for children. Let's face it, life is not suitable for children and this is why it is important to help them grow up before they have to face it as legal adults.
This is also the week of the year when an annual event I attend takes me to a local Methodist church. It is a nice country church filled with nice country kid Christians but there is a sign in the kitchen that I just can not bring myself to ignore.
Keep it in the sanctuary!
I can't stop looking at it from the corner of my eye. The first time I saw it, I was dumbstruck. Even now I can't believe it remains year after year. I want to go around asking all the other adults about it and asking, "How can anyone be so deaf." I cope by allowing my internal dialogue to access my dark humor but otherwise keeping silent.
Beyond the Jonestown event, it seems to reflect a cultural deafness. Churches, religions, ideologies, they should pretty much just steer away from any reference to Kool Aid.
It is good to remember the victims.
It is important to remember the lesson: know when to break away from the tribe and go your own way.
Fundamentalism is not restricted to one religion, one ideology, or one part of the political spectrum. It can show up among conservatives. It can be manifest among leftists, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, or, well, you fill in the blank.
We each need to police our own. We all need to be ready to reject the extremes with word and deed. There is also a time when we reach the limits of tolerance. When grown-ups must intervene, hopefully before mothers start using syringes to get their toddlers to drink the kool-aid.
It is all part of life in the Anthropocene.
Too young to know the story? Watch the PBS documentary. Suitable for helping fragile little snowflakes become a little more prepared for adulthood.
How is it that I've never heard of the Shigir Idol?
The disclosure this week on the precise fixing of age of the ancient wooden carved statue known as the Shigir Idol is seen as groundbreaking to our understanding of the pre-historic world. As first revealed by The Siberian Times, the haunting monument is 11,000 years old, according to leading German scientists. As such, it is more than twice as the age of the Pyramids of Egypt and the Stonehenge monument in the United Kingdom. The Idol - found in a peat bog in the Urals - is also 1,500 years older than previously thought by scientists, and the exact fixing of its age destroys theories by sceptics that it was not as ancient as its proponents believed.
