History

"I love history. I have my Bachelor's Degree in Modern European History, but just about any history enthralls me. I think I like ancient history the best. It fascinates me because it is so different from the world in which we live today.

I have just finished reading The First Emperor of China by R.W.L. Guisso and Catherine Pagani. It was written in association with The National Film Board of Canada and The Canadian Museum of Civilization. For any of you who know computor games better than books or history, the game Qin is based on this emperor's grave. A great game with wonderful graphics. I love the artwork.

This was the 50th book I have read this year. Probably won't get anymore finished by tomorrow night, so it ends up being the last for 2005. A good book to end on. Has all the makings of a good drama, intrigue, murder, and suspense. It even ends on a question. What is the tomb actually like? It has not been opened. Only the terracota army has so far been uncovered and if it is any example of what lies in the tomb, it must be fantastic. One can only hope that it has not been plundered over the centuries.

What fascinates me about this man and his time is the incredible things that were being done 250 years before the common era. We are talking 2250 years ago. At this time the Chinese were able to chrome metal, something Europe did not discover until the 1930's; they build roads that rivaled those of the romans over 200 years later; the Great Wall was built, a massive undertaking that saw 2,600 miles of wall built in a period of 10 years; and they built canals that are still in use today.

And yet when Europeans arrived in China, they came with the opinion that they were superior and that opinion didn't change or waver in all the years that they stayed in China. What does that say about people? Why are we as a species so smug and self-satisfied? Why do we all seem to need to believe that we are the best, the brightest and the most important? That we are right and everyone remotely different from us is wrong, their beliefs of no importance, their accomplishments of no value?

I would like to hope that as a species we can begin to grow beyond this outdated way of thinking. Unfortunately, the world around me leads one to believe the opposite. We have Canada, smug and self-satisfied that she is oh so much better than the United States, we have the United States devolving into a fundamental christian state, which believes that it's beliefs are the only right ones and we have the muslim fundamentalists who believe, not only that their way is the only way, but that those who disagree with them should not even live. This does not even begin to take into account all the other petty little peoples around the earth so busy killing, starving and maiming their "enemies", usually under the pretext of religion or race. Oh, when will we realise that we are all one, all alone on this little blue planet. I hope it is soon," I whisper.

Are you listening?