(What difference a moment or a week has made!)A BAPTISM OF HISTORY
Yesterday Japan won against Syria in a succor match held in a city north of Damascus.
It was a club-team matching for the Asian championship. The Japanese team based in Osaka City lost one goal in the first half, but fought back to get two in the last half.
As Damascus is so important for Christianity, I could not leave the international live TV broadcast to Japan.
Then I watched a late night news program to confirm that Mr. Obama got 48 points and Mr. McCain 44.
This morning, a big typhoon has gone out of the Tokyo region. After a cloudy week, the blue sky has come back, though, with many wandering white clouds as if marooned in the autumn air.
SECTION I: European Castles
Since the Western Roman Empire fell in the 5th century, no massive stone castles were built in Western Europe until the 10th century or 11th century.
Of course, even during the era of the Roman supremacy in Western Europe, no massive stone castles had been built there.
There were no massive stone buildings, fortresses, and walls in London, Berlin, and Paris at all until the 10th or 11th century.
This is one of the most significant aspects of the discontinuity in the European history while ancient Rome was full of massive stone buildings and networks of paved roads and aqueducts if not Pyramids.
SECTION II: "Cement"
Technological expertise of the Roman Empire can be found in its use of “cement” in building a huge structure such as the Colosseum.
However when the Roman Empire fell, this technology vanished; no Western Europeans started to use this technology until the Modern Age began thousand years later.
It tells that engineering and other technological traditions were not inherited seamlessly from ancient Romans to Europeans in the Middle Ages.
It also tells that there was truly huge discontinuity of civilization from the era of the Roman Empire to the era of France, Britain, and Germany.
SECTION III: Roman Military
It is the military that kept and maintained technological traditions of the Roman Empire.
Indeed, the Roman Empire was mainly based on its superior military capability. And the capability means of course technology. There were a variety of types of war machine even in those days. But, they must be protected and preserved within the Roman legions, if not so confidential, so that no other tribes would obtain them to use against the Empire.
In later days of the Empire, they came to hire more and more foreign soldiers. But, in my view, there was no technological transfer from Roman soldiers to those mercenaries, especially, who belonged to tribes living in north of the Alps.
If war technology, including cement as a material to build a strong fortress, had been in the hands of North Europeans, the Roman Empire would have faced the fatal crisis more earlier without waiting for violent intrusion by half-Asian tribes coming from the east with overwhelming horse power and related war techniques.
The military was a core of the organization of the Roman Empire and the key means to secure the abundant transfer of foods and wealth from colonies and foreign regions to Rome.
Therefore, the key factor, namely various technologies, to the supremacy of their military must have been kept and maintained only among Roman troops, though the Empire used many hired soldiers from different ethnic groups.
Inevitably, when the Roman Empire fell and Roman troops collapsed, their technological traditions were lost.
Roma officers who were carrying the technological traditions of the Empire could not find their successors any more, since even Roman soldiers ran to, and hid in, local villages during the rest of their lives or decided not to go back to Rome at all but stay in north of the Alps when the whole military organization crumbled away.
Truly, when the Roman Empire fell and Roman troops collapsed, their technological traditions were lost.
It took 500 to 1,000 years for Europeans to develop their civilization to the level of the Roman Empire’s, though, through many imports from Islamic regions and the East Asia as far as China.
SECTION IV: FALL OF WALL STREET
Then what will happen when the U.S. collapses like the Roman Empire?
Or, will the U.S. collapses like the Roman Empire at all in future?
But, it may be more realistic to think about what will happen after the future fall of Wall Street or at least the future fall of the Mafia-like forces in Wall Street.
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Another key factor to the prolonged glorious era of the Western Roman Empire is the glitter of civilization.
The city Rome looked like a great capital of whole human races on the shining hills, so observed even from Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Greece, and regions of north of the Alps.
It is because Rome was materially rich with foods and goods sent from many of its colonies and tributary nations, physically massive with advanced engineering, militarily strong and excellent being supported by war technology, and culturally acting like the sole successor of the Greek Civilization.
So, it is a great honor to be a Roman citizen.
This sense of honor and privilege of being a Roman citizen mesmerized many tribes living in peripheral borders and foreign regions.
The similar thing is observed in the U.S. today.
The sense of honor and privilege of being a U.S. citizen seems to mesmerize many people globally.
How to keep and secure this sense among themselves as well as world citizens, if Wall Street should go to smash, must be one of the greatest challenges for the next U.S. Administration to be led by Mr. John McCain or Mr. Barack Obama, in my humble view.
Yet, being a Japanese is also a privileged status just like being an Israelite, in my humble view, in the history of mankind, isn't it, very personally?
Joh 9:20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:
Joh 9:21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
Joh 9:22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.
Joh 9:23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.
Joh 9:24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.
Joh 9:25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.