From the International Herald Tribune: Giant Viking longship to sail across North Sea to Ireland.
ROSKILDE, Denmark: On the skipper’s command, deckhands hauled in tarred ropes to lower the flax sail. Oars splashed into the water. The crew, grimacing with strain, pulled with steady strokes sending the sleek Viking longship gliding through the fjord.
A thousand years ago, the curved-prow warship might have spewed out hordes of bloodthirsty Norsemen ready to pillage and burn.
This time, the spoils are adventure rather than plunder.
The Sea Stallion of Glendalough is billed as the world’s biggest and most ambitious Viking ship reconstruction, modeled after a warship excavated in 1962 from the Roskilde fjord after being buried in the seabed for nearly 950 years. Now it is preparing for a journey across the legendary Viking waters of the North Sea — leaving Roskilde in eastern Denmark on July 1 and sailing 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) to Dublin, which was founded by Vikings in the 9th century. [continue]
I loved this story because I’m of Scandanavian ancestry on my father’s side.
I work in an environment where nearly everyone around me, my coworkers, boss and subordinates alike, are people of color. Time and again, I have heard the following tale:
Sure, I hit/knifed/pulled a gun/etc. because he started it, and anyway, I can’t help myself because I am (insert ethnicity here) and my blood calls for revenge, etc., etc.
If the self-exculpatory story didn’t have such evil consequences, I might find it amusing. They accuse me of being a cold fish, self-controlled and unresponsive. Their words.
I work in an occupation where I deal with people, resolve problems, coordinate actions. For heaven’s sake, I don’t take it personally, though I confess to getting a bit stressed at times.
If only they knew! My ancestors were berserkers, coming out of the North Sea to rape, pillage and burn, merciless and feared, huge bearded Norsemen (my father could easily have passed for one–dominant genes, I guess). The idea of using one’s genetic heritage as an excuse for present day violent and vicious actions would be ludicrous, if it weren’t so prevalent.
Add to those excuses the lack of accountability and personal responsibility of our national and corporate leaders, which just adds to the craziness of this whole atmosphere we live in.
Time to find a good book and leave this time and place for a while. “The world is too much with us, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers….”