Suzanne’s Personal Quote and Blog for 9/25/2022

Quote

Some seek to be royalty from times past.

The truth is that we are the decedents of the pauper cast.

We worked the fields and tilled the land.

We cleaned the floors and shoveled the sand.
Rarely have any of us been part of the elite.
We chopped the wood and dried the peat.

We lived with little but together we stood.

We worked hard and did what we could.

The small things were important and made us smile.

We had to walk every day for miles.
We understood to take advantage of the seasons.

And look for answers and new ways and reasons.

I am proud that I have the blood of the hard-working class.

Because we are still here and have the skills to last.

~Suzanne Wagner~

Blog

On this trip I now know the difference between a castle and a palace.
A Palace is built for show, opulence, and grandeur.
A Castle was built for defense, protection, build upon a high point, and often surrounded on three sides with some sort of obstacle that is a deterrent for enemies.
That deterrent can be a tidal bay, a cliff, or another obstacle to limit the enemies’ options.
A Castle is hard to get into. It is designed for soldiers to use their right hand for swords as they face enemies coming up the stairs. Therefore, the staircases are narrow and built from the top down in a counterclockwise direction so the defenders can use their strong right arm in defense.
A Castle has few windows for defense and to be able to shoot arrows out of but that are narrow enough to make the chances of an enemy to shoot the defenders less that good.
The Irish builders understood their land, the stone, and the types of mortar that would work in a damp climate. They knew how to be built walls and structures that would stand the tests of time, conflicts, and war.

That did not mean they always succeeded. But they learned how to maintain defensible space.

Later on, conquerors came and tried to build something more spectacular to make a point, only to discover that their choices in stone and mortar would end up causing black mold and the collapse of structures in their arrogance.
Often the people of a land understand the tools and traditions that will serve and stand the tests of time.

The Native American’s tried to tell us, but the white man did not listen.
History is filled with invaders that ended up walking away from their “conquered lands” because of not being able to listen to the people of those lands and making choices that made life harder. It eventually made some invaders go back home.
I have also learned that while certain places such as the Muckross House, were gorgeous, the place I related to the most was the servants’ quarters with the slate black floors. Clearly, I have been more often a servant than a royal or a person of status.
And I am good with that!

What I am amazed by is how many with money ended up giving the properties to the Republic of Ireland for pennies on the dollar in order for them to be restored and used to teach history.

I hope all those who have great wealth are willing eventually to give back to the people and their countries.
We need more people who are willing to do what is right over hording all the wealth.

~Suzanne Wagner~

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