A chasing after the wind

   Life is so odd… we all move through our own lives, and it continues one generation after another…. pretty much things are the same regardless of the age. Sure there’s societal and technological developments, but still people are people.

  History should be told through the lives of people… to see the life of someone long ago, and to see the generalities that we share and at the same time to see the differences in life makes history come alive.

  I was reading old stuff from the Forrest City Times Arkansas Newspaper of 1905,  and came upon someone in my family getting married.  This is not a direct ancestor of mine… but it was funny reading the public statement.. and you know if it’s this open in public, it must have been a huge fight in real that you have to read between-the-lines.

11-10-1905 – DICUS – CLARENCE – - – - NA – FCTIMES – DICUS-FRAZIER=Mr. Clarence
Dicus, night operator of the Rock Island depot here, and Miss Mary Frazier, of
Little Rock, were married on Thursday of last week at Lonoke. It was a ‘Gretna
Green’ affair, the parents of the bride being opposed, so they went to Lonoke
where he has relatives.

  Well heck, reading that made me wonder what the term ‘Gretna Green Affair’ meant…. so I searched the term and came up with this little tidbit from Flyawayweddings

Gretna Green is a popular place to get married, there is something very romantic about saying that you have ‘run away’ to Gretna Green for your wedding.

The village became synonymous with weddings after 1754, when a law was passed in England which meant that only marriages solemnised in a church and between those aged over 21 were recognised. However the law didn’t apply in Scotland and to make things even simpler, all that Scottish law required was that there were two witnesses to the marriage, no religious or other official celebrant was reuired.

Young English lovers dashed to the first town over the border – Gretna Green – where marriages were usually performed by the local blacksmith, in his forge with the anvil acting as the ‘alter’ – hence the expression “marrying over the anvil”.

   Yeah… the more things change, the more they stay the same.

(Eccl 1:3-18 NIV)

{1} The words of the Preacher,  the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
{2} Vanity  of vanities, says the Preacher,
 vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
{3}What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?
{4} Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
{5} The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
{6} The wind blows to the south and turns to the north;
round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.
{7} All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
{8} All things are wearisome, more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
{9} What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
{10} Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.
{11} There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.
{12} I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
{13} I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven.
What a heavy burden God has laid on men!
{14} I have seen all the things that are done under the sun;
all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
{15} What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.
{16} I thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom
more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me;
I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”
{17} Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom,
and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
{18} For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief.

Tao Teh Ching
Chapter 20

Discard relentless learning, and put an end to the anxiety in your harried mind.
What is the difference between yes and no?
What is the distinction between success and failure?
Must the quester fear what all others fear?
How preposterous, these questions can be asked for as long as one seeks knowledge.
It is to the sage’s advantage that he need not fear what others fear.
But it is to the advantage of most that they can enjoy the feast,
and celebrate in the terraced parks in the springtime.
I alone seem tranquil and still amidst the smiling revelers.
I am as expressionless as an infant before it learns to smile.
I do not know the minds of other people,
My mind is that of a fool, muddied and cloudy.
I am alone, with no true home.
Other people have enough and to spare,
I alone seem to have lost everything.
Other people enjoy all they need and more,
I alone have left everything behind.
Other people appear bright;
I alone seem wrapped in darkness.
Other people seem razor-sharp;
I alone am dull.
Other people are lucid,
I alone am obscure.
Everyone seems to know everything,
I alone have no knowledge.
I am like a wave on the ocean;
blowing as aimlessly as the wind, with no place to rest.
Others have purpose, taste and a sphere of action:
I alone am purposeless, unrefined and uncentered.
I do not share the fears of the people,
For creation nourishes me.

  On and on it goes.