In memory of the founder of the greatest empire in the history of the world, here are some words attributed to Genghis Khan, who died exactly 787 years ago:
"Man's highest joy is in victory: to conquer one's enemies, to pursue them, to deprive them of their possessions, to make their beloved weep, to rise on their horses, and to embrace their wives and daughters."
Posts
What a wonderful quote! This is precisely why I would rather prefer that women hold political power. They usually do not have the need to "embrace" (neat understatement...) their enemies' husbands and sons. Men could then express their individuality through playing or watching football and drinking beer.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice of both men and women worked together and thought about the greater good more so than their own little bubble. But I fear that may be contrary to human nature (for the most part).
DeleteIn other words, I hear Genghis has about 16 million living descendants today... Think we're part of that group?
He did "embrace" widely. On the other hand, 16 million out of 7.3 billion makes about 0.2 of one percent. It is a fascinating thought, though, that we might have common ancestors. On one side of my family I have some German roots (Polish peasants on the other side), and Germany is sort of close to Belgium :) Just kidding. I prefer judging people by their behavior rather than by their origin. Genghis would have gotten a F in my course. Maybe even F-.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be funny if we were related? Should I call you Uncle Lukasz from now on? :)
DeleteYeah, I really don't adhere to G's philosophy...though I find it interesting to analyze.
Please call me Lukasz. I don't like the "Uncle" bit; it makes me feel old or something:) Each of us has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents. If we go back to, say, the year 1000 (hey, we are Europeans, we can do it), and if we give 25 years for a generation (probably too much), we have about 40 generations, 2 to power 40 g-g-..-g-parents. There must be something in common. You surely remember the "ancestors and descendants program in a binary tree" in your favorite college course. Thanks for a great blog - I am now reading your posts from the past.
ReplyDeleteYou know, if I were to retake those classes with you, I think I'd love them! The problem back then was that I was brand new at computers (I just knew the very basics of words (loved WordArt!) and Excel (the sum function was basically all I really knew) so it was all very scary for me. And I was joking about the Uncle part.
ReplyDeleteAargh, I always get worried when people tell me they're reading all my old posts, wondering if they're getting stupider and stupider as you progress back through time... :)
I am sorry YA is not my genre. But I totally adore your breadth of interests and knowledge and I hope to read your posts until I am completely senile (on my way there :(
ReplyDeleteThere's really no need to apologize :) YA is definitely not for everyone, or fantasy, or any genre, author, book, etc...
DeleteThere's no way the mighty Doctor Pruski would ever go senile!!!
Hi Shinya!
ReplyDeleteI'm doing well, though I've been really busy with my own editing/rewriting. The book on Genghis Khan looks really interesting! I wish I could read Japanese though, because some of the reviews stated that the English translation didn't do the original text justice... Still, I've added the book to my to-read list!
Hope you're doing well with all of your own writing too :D