Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

History Written by Victors, Memories & Blue Frog Moments

30 Day Blogging Challenge - July 14

The Wildcard Round! Today's winner, chosen from all eligible entries by Virtual Dice over the weekend, will receive a History Merit Badge!
It is often said that history is written by the victorious. How true (or otherwise) do you believe this to be, and why?

Oh, I so agree with this... It is very true. How much do we not know of the other point of view... I think, it is lost or if anything, it is shared by members of the losing side by word of mouth to keep the embers of the idea alive.... until it cools and fades, forever lost. Voices of both sides need to be heard, but in our world victory get the speech. Victory has the upper hand and so paints the battle with its view of the situation. It will make it like they are the best of the best. There is an egocentric predominance that pervades our world. Only those who choose to do the research may find the other side... and learn about the things untold... and some of those things are brutal and cruel and paint the victorious as not so 'perfect' and 'wonderful'.

My mind swirls with examples... but I will go with a less controversial one - sports. This past weekend Andy Murray won Wimbledon. As the winner, the media focused on him... and Milos Raonic was quietly forgotten, except for those of us wanting to know how our Canadian boy did in his first ever tennis final... this is a first for Canada ever. So for Canadian tennis fans, this is what we wanted to know. The news swam with Murray's victory... and the British considered him a wonderful British citizen... if he had lost, he would have been just that Scottish lad. I am also not sure how much coverage this got in the States as they were not represented... and I don't want to step on toes here, but if a country is not involved in something it has even less interest in the outcome.

On a more controversial not.... because I cannot help myself... movies based on the 'truth'. I have not seen the movie Argo... and I have no interest in it... but many Canadians don't appreciate how our role in that situation was down played and the American role was up played... just saying....

This is the write up for the movie:
On Nov. 4, 1979, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, taking 66 American hostages. Amid the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge with the Canadian ambassador. Knowing that it's just a matter of time before the refugees are found and likely executed, the U.S. government calls on extractor Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) to rescue them. Mendez's plan is to pose as a Hollywood producer scouting locations in Iran and train the refugees to act as his "film" crew.

What happened in our newspapers:
I really had to search to find this.... most of the stuff is American - CNN - and most of that stuff does not even mention the Canadian involvement in the situation

Here is a little bit from Wikipedia:
The occupiers bound and blindfolded the Marines and staff at the embassy and paraded them in front of photographers. In the first couple of days, many of the embassy workers who had sneaked out of the compound or had not been there at the time of the takeover were rounded up by Islamists and returned as hostages.[50] Six American diplomats managed to avoid capture and took refuge in the British Embassy before being transferred to the Canadian Embassy. Others went to the Swedish Embassy in Tehran for three months. In a joint covert operation known as the Canadian caper, the Canadian government and the CIA managed to smuggle them out of Iran on January 28, 1980, using Canadian passports and a cover story that identified them as a film crew.[51]

The "Canadian Caper" - that doesn't even sound great compared to the American's "Operation Eagle Claw" - though both sound hokey. Who names these things?

Here is one of our Candian sources:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/argo-iran-hostage-crisis-film-fiddles-with-the-facts-1....

I am only using this example as a way to show how the news colours the story. I was young when it was actually going on... but if your going to call something the 'true story' you best get your facts straight.... that's all I'm saying....

Blog City - Day 858

Prompt: Collect moments, not things. Do you agree?

I would agree... but I have a tendency to collect things to help me remember the moments. Some things are remembered from a photograph... even an odd shot of an uncle looking at something makes me smile and remember he was watching a bee that got stuck on the fly strip that my Gramzie had hung over the kitchen table in their farm house... this memory triggers many others - all of which related to that family reunion when my grandparents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Living in the present is a great way to collect moments - a kid toppling over when a frisky puppy runs by and accidently bowls him over. The laughter when you know he is only crying because it was a shock... no actual hurt had happened. Giggling when the same little boy trips on the grass as he tries to make his way across the lawn on unsteady feet - no crying that time. Enjoying a sun shower and the look on the cat's face as she meows to get back inside - out of the rain.
Everyday there are these gifts of moments. All we have to do is pay attention and stay present and they will flood over us... bringing laughter and tears. The fullness of life.

High emotions also imprint moment memories - remembering my aunt and uncle telling me that my Dad had died (he had cancer and was in the hospital). I can still hear my uncle telling me 'I could cry now' after they had told me. I could also remember my Grandfather say 'Did they tell her yet?' and my Grandmother hushing him in a way I have heard many time before and since. The colours and voices are still as clear today at they were that February 3, 1979 - over 37 years ago.

Love Louder - Amplifying My Life

I have decided as part of my blog to comment on each of Preston Smiles's ways to Love Louder. He has written an intriguing little book or 33 Ways To Amplify Your Life. The full title is Love Louder: 33 Ways To Amplify Your Life.

Day 14 - Blue Frog Moments: Why You Should Pay Attention To What Pisses You Off

"If someone calls you a blue frog, you would laugh and not take it personally, because you know you're not an amphibian. but if that same person called you a liar, and it stings and cues up defensiveness, bingo! That's where you work lies."
When someone calls you something or says something about you that get you upset and defensive... that is when you need to consider the truth of that accusation. It is a tool Preston Smiles uses to gauge where he still needs to work on himself.

In my conversations with my ex, he expresses how he has paid for everything and in its implication I feel he is telling me that I am a user of him - that my contributions are minimal. He covers this by saying I am a good person with a loving heart, but it bothers me to think that he really sees me as a user of all he has put into our marriage. Am I really?

When I think of myself as a user of others.... and it upsets me that I could be considered that way... that is something I need to work on. I need to find a way to stand on my own two feet and not be dependent on others... in a way that makes me act in ways that pleases them so that I don't know who I really am anymore. Does that make any sense?

#LOVELOUDERCHALLENGE
Scan your life for those times when a comment toward you really ticked you off. Ask yourself if it was a blue frog moment. What lesson is in this for you? What did this trigger for you?