SimplyMaggies

Yesterday I went on an unexpected trip to Palermo. I must say that events organized on a spur of a moment seem to always be the best…
Anyway, the city of Palermo is extremely beautiful with amazing architecture that captures your eye at every corner. And one day is definitely not enough to enjoy it all. But if you’re limited on time (as I was) there are two places you must see… One of them is the marvelous cathedral, which boasts a variety of styles of architecture from gothic to Byzantine inspired. The other is the Cappuccini Covenant hosting the mind-blowing underground catacombs. I must warn you though—prepare yourself for a bit of a shock when you enter. The catacombs are filled with 8,000 corpses displayed along the walls either standing up or lying down. The effect is one of a macabre. The dead are actually kind of mummies, with the skeletons still covered with skin, and in some cases even hair. If you faint-hearted though, you may want to skip this step in your sightseeing adventure.
Palermo has many places that will charm you with its astonishing buildings and many enchanting parks and fountains. And if you are interesting in shopping, it will not disappoint. There are many shops along the two main streets where you will find nearly everything you may think of, from shoes and clothes to souvenirs and jewelry. And when you tire and would like a moment to rest and enjoy a “granita” (a Sicilian specialty summer dessert), there are a number of bars along the beaten path and even more off it (probably a better choice to experience the real deal).
So if you ever in the area, go and see this fascinating city for yourself… I am quite sure you will not regret it… I know I didn’t and I’m already thinking about going back to Palermo and perhaps staying just a bit longer this time. And seeing it, I can absolutely understand why Goethe fell in love with it…

Although I wouldn’t call myself a history buff, I must admit that this particular field of science fascinates me. And I find myself absolutely engrossed in the History Channel.

For the last year or so I’ve been a fan of one of their series, namely “Digging for the Truth” with Josh Berstein. I find it extremely captivating and the host himself quite charming, a modern day Indiana Jones of sorts. He goes to the extremes to find the truth about any given topic so a viewer ends up with a perfect mixture of history and adventure.

One of the episodes that touched and surprised me at the same time dealt with the mysteries of the Egyptian mummies. In this episode, Josh went to Egypt to discover why mummification was so vitally important to the ancient Egyptians and what the spiritual meaning behind the embalming process was. What he discovered was that over the centuries both the mummification and the spiritual beliefs changed and evolved from simple to more complex and elaborate. And that spirituality was of utmost importance to the ancient Egyptians.

What surprised me though was a little known fact that the tradition of embalming the dead lasted all the way till the fifth century AD! And the only reason why this ancient ritual had come to an end was the rise of e new religion, Christianity with its vicious practice of eradicating everything pagan and contradictory to their main dogma.

Therefore, in the fifth century Christians began destroying the beautiful works of the ancient Egyptians that lasted for thousands of years before them. The enormous amount of knowledge and art was lost in the early Church’s insatiable drive to eradicate everything pagan.

Watching Josh listening to the explanations, I could see the sadness and regret at the realization of the loss clearly painted on his face. Here was an ancient culture that lasted for thousands of years but when faced with the intolerant new religion, it faded away…

It is really quite a shame when one thinks about the amount of precious knowledge and artifacts that have been lost over the centuries simply because the Church father could not take a bit of healthy competition…

As a European my perspective on life and the world will always differ from American. However, as a Polish, growing up in a somewhat communist system, the American view of the world and its dynamics as well as their own part in it, will always seem a bit offensive.

I say “somewhat communist” because I didn’t experience the really bad part of it since most of my childhood fell into the 80s, when things had a slightly different character. Of course the 80s are the decade when huge changes occurred, and especially in Poland with the nearly civil war and the government’s implementing marshal law (pretty scary for a six year old kid) and all the movements that eventually led to abolishing this ‘evil’ system… But I’m not trying to give you a history lecture here…

As a Polish, I must admit we have a pretty good amount of national pride (which isn’t always the best of things; depending on the circumstances) and I’m pretty sure that if you asked anyone on the streets of Poland who was responsible for the fall of communism, the answer definitely won’t be ‘Americans’ (contrary to what some Americans may believe). And if you even suggest that these life altering changes occurred because of the American involvement, you may get some offensive reactions.

Somehow Americans do think they enabled many events all over the world in the course of history. They seem to think they won World War II, abolished communism in Europe, brought down the Berlin wall, reestablished the eastern European borders and defeated the Soviets (just to mention a few). And meanwhile all the European nations were just sitting back and allowing the mighty Americans to come and save the day. Please!

Americans turned their heads away while people were being killed during WWII for nearly three years before they decided to act. Don’t be fooled though! The only reason Americans got involved at that point was because it suddenly hit home (remember Pear Harbor?). So when I hear how Americans supposedly saved us (poor wretched people) from the Soviets, my blood starts boiling and I feel like screaming! If that is so, where the hell were you in the 50s and 60s when thousands of Polish citizens were killed or imprisoned for opposing communism?! Oh, yeah… I forgot… You were liberating the people of Korea and then Vietnam (even though nobody asked you to).

What I have a problem with is the fact that Americans seem to have appointed themselves saviors of the world, and this somehow gives them the right to meddle in everybody’s business? (which I fail to see)… And this conviction of theirs that if it wasn’t for the mighty Americans the world would be in shambles…Seriously! America really hardly ever does things out of goodness of its hearts (unless there’s something to be gained there, that is).

And this is why I say American arrogance has no limits and at times borders on offensive. But then again, I am Polish and, of course, my perspective on life is shadowed by my upbringing so what do I know, right?