I'm looking at my granddaughter Ilinca. She is two years old and lives only in the present. For her there is no past or future, everything is today. It's fascinating to be able to think like that.
Of course, Ilinca doesn't think that, she just lives it!
I'm the grandfather.
For me, both the past and the future are a blur. The past is slowly fading away and I don't see much of the future. It's so interesting how we relate to time at different stages of life...
Now that I sit and think about the past, how many moments and events seemed of great importance at one time. Insurmountable problems. Many I've already forgotten, others I can barely remember, proof that almost nothing is unrememberable, that we attach too much importance to things that don't deserve it. That often our fears are unnecessary. Because everything is fleeting.
Something Ilinca doesn't know yet and it will be many years before she understands this...
Recent events shake the world. A pandemic, a war, a dictator who seems tempted to put his finger on the nuclear button. Fear surrounds us!
Let us remember that everything is fleeting. First of all we! After a while, we'll forget about it.
Ilinca will never know who Putin was!
All these thoughts crossed my mind remembering a Latin expression that I like very much.
sic transit gloria mundi
Thus passes the glory of the world; a Latin sentence is spoken during the coronation of a new Pope, while flax is burned to represent the transitoriness of earthly glory. It was first used at the coronation of Alexander V in Pisa, 7 July 1409, but is earlier in origin; it may ultimately derive from ‘O quam cito transit gloria mundi [Oh how quickly the glory of the world passes away]’ in the De Imitatione Christi of Thomas à Kempis.
Now I'll tell you something funny and sad at the same time about how glory passes...
A few more thoughts on the glory of the world. It eventually passes and... it doesn't! The examples refer to the great people of the past who have made enormous contributions to the evolution of our civilization and who, more often than not, didn't give a damn about their glory.
The glory that passes most quickly is the glory of those who love it, who have lived for glory and have done everything in their power to ensure that it remains behind them. The glory of the selfish and the trusting! Unfortunately, most artists have suffered from this "disease".
An example I have seen many times is that of rock singers and bands, at the peak of their glory in the second half of the last century but now increasingly forgotten by the world, while more and more of their fans leave for another world (?)...
A story from Romania
In 1989-1990 the communist countries of Eastern Europe managed to break away from the USSR's influence and get rid of the communist regime. The USSR itself broke into pieces, leaving Russia alone. The feared and powerful USSR, which Putin now wants to revive, is an example of "sic transit gloria mundi!".
During communism, and now I'm referring to Romania, we didn't have access to western culture, it was almost like it is now in North Korea. Everything that is forbidden is more desirable. I spent my childhood, adolescence, youth, and part of my adult life in this totalitarian-communist regime. I wanted, like most young people, to have access to Western culture, especially as it was starting those changes in Western society... the hippie movement, pop culture, rock music, etc.
We hardly managed to listen to music, on banned radio stations where the listening quality was not so good and exchanging vinyl, because the vinyl was brought into the country by those who were allowed to travel abroad.
What do I mean? We could still listen to music, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, etc., but we couldn't see the musicians and concerts of these bands!
After 1990, after the fall of communism, but especially after 2000, more and more famous bands, myths of our youth, started concerts in our countries, so in Romania. Our joy, of the former young people, was immense, but there was one aspect we had not foreseen. That our idols grew old with us, but we didn't see that... It was a bit of a disappointment! Even the music wasn't the same in some cases. That didn't happen with Robert Plant, Ian Gillan, Joe Cocker, Peter Gabriel, to name a few of the musicians I saw in concert who were extraordinary, even if they were no longer at the top of their careers.
It's time for the sad story and the exemplification of past glories...
One of my favorite bands from my youth was Nazareth. I think you know one of their great successes.
Love Hurts!
Well, a few years ago, I think not more than ten years ago, I heard on TV, on the news, that Nazareth was going to perform in Romania, in a provincial town, at a festival. I was very happy to hear that because I hadn't known about the band's activity for a long time. But I was somewhat surprised that they will not perform in a big city in Romania.
Now I want to show my favorite Nazareth song. I'm obsessed with it, after listening to it play in my head all day and even at night!
Please Don't Judas Me
On the day the band arrived in Romania, I watched the TV news to see the moment they arrived at the airport. I saw the footage and was deeply disappointed. Not by the members of the band, because I was prepared to see some old, bald, rock clothes-wearing, slightly outdated, and ridiculous people in this pose. I was deeply disappointed by the way they were greeted by the tour organizers. Two young men holding a cardboard that said, Nazareth! They didn't even know the band members!!!
What could be more eloquent and painful in demonstrating the saying "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi"?
