Warren Carroll noted in The Crisis of Christendom that a major peace (essentially 100 years of peace in Europe) ensued after the Napoleonic Wars. However the peace was not all it seemed. While major powers did not engage in war, revolution (and its accompanying violence) was rife throughout Europe.

I am wondering if we are seeing the same thing today. The 20th century was a century of war, including the proxy wars of the Cold War. Now, the major powers are not at war, but we see a multitude of civil wars throughout the Middle East and now in Ukraine.

During the 100 years’ peace mentioned above it seems that realignment of governance and ideology within European countries set the stage and the enemies for the violent 20th century. I sense that the ideological and governance realignment going on in regions of the world today is setting the stage for major wars in our future.

It is tragically sad to note that the periods of so-called peace are no less violent than the periods of major wars.

Oremus pro invicem!

I mentioned below I have been reading Chesterton's America. The editor, Mr. Bennett, has done a very interesting thing. While Cecil Chesterton's text forms the backbone of the book, he brings in commentary on each period of history from other Distributists' writings; for example, we find passages from G.K. Chesterston, Hillare Belloc, Herbert Agar, and other intertwined with the main text.

 

It is interesting to read an outside view (an English view at that) of American history. I have read several things already which we never heard in school. Just to name three: That New England relied heavily on slave trade for their economy at least until the mid-to-late 1700's. Related, that the view in the South that the African slaves were somehow sub-human was not introduced and not widely held until into the 19th century. And thirdly, the whole "No taxation without

representation" rationale for the American Rebellion was somewhat of a sham. In fact some 80% of British subjects were taxed without representation at the time. The matter was more complicated ....

 

But MOST surprising to me is that fact that I am reading Cecil and GK side-by-side and finding I like reading Cecil more than GK. Who would have thought?

 

Oremus pro invicem!

I am still working on Chesterton's America (see post below) however in the mean time I read and finished The Virginian. I am surprised I never read it before. I was inspired to read it by #2 son and #2 daughter who both read it recently. Glad I did. Those who have read it may appreciate my comment to #2 son after I finished reading it: "I almost missed the gunfight, it being so subtle." (Supposedly it is the first gunfight written in a fictional western.)

 

Garden update: Harvested the first corn from our last plot of sweet corn. I think we will have another picking. Green beans have been coming on. Tomatoes increasing by the day. Zucchini still coming (first year with no squash bug damage-could it be the winter lasting so long?). Okra and peppers doing well too. I think the sweet sorghum has been saved by our last rain. I was worried we were losing it even though it is supposed to be pretty drought resistant. Our acre of peanuts looks good, but we need to keep up with the pigs weeds better. They have been especially prolific this year.

 

A friend of ours saved some cantaloupe seeds from his dad's garden in Nebraska 30 odd years ago. Last year he planted them and 5 plants came up and fruited with some of the sweetest cantaloupe I have ever tasted. My friend gave us one of these treasured cantaloupes. I saved these seeds and planted them this spring. We harvested the first ones this week. Boy are they good. The best I have ever tasted. Guaranteed we are saving more seeds!

 

Great to have (almost) everyone home this summer. But summer is short and many are going their own ways in mid-July and August.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

My son wrote this song for me for my 50th birthday. I told him he should have played it after I died so that he would be the one crying instead of me.

 

 

 

Oremus pro invicem!