SANDCASTLES
Posted by Erik Frey Thu, 20 Mar 2003 06:36:00 GMT
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
july 21, 1861. hundreds of spectators travelled by buggy to a tranquil pasture 30 miles west of washington. they brought picnic baskets with them, laid out blankets, and sat down to enjoy the show: more than 30 thousand union troops, sure to decimate the confederate rabble. what they saw instead was a massive defeat, and a retreating union army with almost 3,000 casualties coming straight towards them. in the resulting panic and confusion, many of the sightseers were wounded or killed. this was the battle of bull run, and the beginning of our nation’s civil war.
the british empire, at its prime, had the most powerful navy known to man. it stood basically undeafeated from 1700 to 1900.
the british empire is effectively gone now, with a little help from a flamboyant john hancock and a grumpy mr. madison.
in the 2nd century AD, the roman empire extended from syria in the east, all the way to the iberian coast in the west, and down to the northern coast of africa. the roman army was considered the most powerful and technologically advanced in the world.
a few centuries later, rome is torn apart by barbarians.
there was also the mayan empire, which disappeared mysteriously about 1,000 years ago. i guess some people blame the weather.
and there was the gupta empire, in india
the third reich, in germany
the union of soviet socialist republics
the maurya empire
the byzantine empire
the seleucid empire
the sasanian empire
the macedonian empire
the kushan empire
the hun empire
the ottoman empire
the babylonian empire
the assyrian empire
the portuguese empire
the almoravid and almohad empires
the french colonial empire and the second french empire
the egyptian empire
the holy roman empire & the catholic church
the mongol empire
the anasazi empire
the hapsburg empire
the athenian empire
the persian empire
twenty-five chinese dynasties
they’re all gone now, too.
tibetan buddhist monks make beautiful mandalas in the sand, only to destroy them as soon as they’re done.
when i was young, one of my favorite things to do at the beach was build a sand castle, and as soon as i was finished,
stomp on it,
kick it,
lay it to ruin,
and let the high tide carry it away.