The maelstrom of history and a series of revolutions
My late grandfather was heavily involved in the union movement in the North of England. Fighting for the miners, he organised pickets and strike action. In the end, he underwent electro-shock treatment for what I can only imagine would have been anxiety and stress. Back then, they might have called it a nervous breakdown. I'm not too sure. After this, my mother says he just wasn't the same man. I only ever remember him as a frail pipe-smoking old man who was more content to sit in an armchair all day and bet on the horses rather than talk to his grandchildren.
Stories like that not only remind me of my past, but also the small stories that every person can tell of family. Small leaves in the great river of time we are, floating, tumbling, and moving haphazardly downstream. Age after age and century after century, we tumble, telling our stories and huddling together against the cold, so as to convince ourselves we're important and loved.
Our ages have names. Our history is neatly divided into dates and the procession of Kings and Queens. But the human story is told mostly through the eyes of victors and leaders. This is why the smaller, but important, stories of people like my grandfather remain relevant. They tell the greater story of humanity - vulnerable creatures caught up in the maelstrom of time. Small stories like this also remind me that movements, revolutions, and ages are also just nameless passages of time given convenient labels.
How many movements and revolutions are encouraged by vested interests? How many changes become the yoke around the neck? How often are we sold the snake-oil that leads to the story of history being framed as a series of important ages? Listening, you'd believe there's no other way - human history progresses ever-upward, away from the cave and the muck. The revolution seems inevitable - we're told it is. It's the future, after all. There can be no other way for us. But remember: the river of history is vast, and there has never been a time when the powerful haven't sought to protect their interests.
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