A friend recently asked me why I hadn’t been blogging. “I have nothing to say,” I said. She seemed unconvinced. So, let me rephrase, I have nothing to say that would interest anyone but me. I am not well-informed or well-read or practical. I am an expert on nothing and I’m not particularly warm and fuzzy. I’m pretty average. I’m OK with that. I’m happy with it. So sometimes it just seems like I need to stay quiet for awhile instead of adding to the cacophony of all the other average people trying to be heard.
That doesn’t mean I don’t think about things.
For example, I’ve been wondering about Russia lately. Y’ see, preceding the invasion of England by Duke William of Normandy, King Harold was advised by his brother to burn everything before the Normans could get to it. Harold, feeling himself to be a protector of the English rather than a destroyer, declined to do it. He was defeated at the Battle of Hastings.
In contrast, almost seven hundred fifty years later, the Russians burned everything in advance of Napoleon’s invasion. Napoleon suffered more than the plunder in burning, empty Moscow was worth and he gained nothing politically by this campaign – the Czar wouldn’t even correspond with him, much less cease his breaking of the blockade. And the loss of French lives from battle, cold and starvation made Napoleon deeply unpopular with his own people. Is this a Russian mindset even today? Are they OK with destroying themselves as long as their enemies lose too?
And so. THIS IS WHY I HAVEN’T BEEN BLOGGING.
Breaking Ground 