Political significance of the Golden Age

The political interpretation given the Golden Age by Virgil, who situated it in the future, resurfaced in subsequent eras of revolutionary change. The Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England was frequently hailed by her supporters as the virgin goddess Astraea,[7] and the famous lines of Virgil's fourth Eclogue quoted above are supposed to be the source of the motto Novus ordo seclorum (New Order of the Ages) that appears on the Great Seal of the United States. The British poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) hailed the promise of the romantic and revolutionary era with these lines, which foretell the dissolution of empires and the advent of a new religion, superior even to Christianity:

The world's great age begins anew,
The golden years return,
The earth doth like a snake renew
Her winter weeds outworn;
Heaven smiles, and faiths and empires gleam
Like wrecks of a dissolving dream....
Saturn and Love their long repose
Shall burst, more bright and good
Than all who fell, than One who rose,
Than many unsubdued.
Not gold, not blood, their altar dowers,
But votive tears and symbol flowers.[8]

"Irony is the form of paradox. Paradox is what is good and great at the same  time." 
~Friedrich Schlegel

July 3rd will be the first anniversary of my dear friend Dale's passing.

The irony is on that day is I'll be talking with Social Security and Medicare people ... yep, time to pull out the "reality" mirror.  And my appointment time is about the same time that my friend died.  I'll not easily forget the day I filed ... which I plan to do. 

In retrospect, I wish I had listened to my friend, and filed a couple years back.  I could have a bit of a nest egg right now had I done that - and continued to work full-time.  So much has happened since I first could have filed, for both.  So much changed in just three years.  With a presidential election this year, the drastic changes coming in health care, and with the government considering raising the "full reitirement" age to 70 ... oh, yeah ... I'm filing ... while I have a fighting chance of getting in on some of the monies I've worked all my life to have now.

I'm just getting started into my "golden" years, ha!  Whoever owns that quote, I'd love to slap around.  From seeing my own family members aging, and passing ... aging is not for the weak of heart.  Fortunately, for me, I've been in good health and blessed with good genes ... I've always looked younger than my chronological years.  I hope and pray that continues.  I think most of my good health is from when I discovered Shaklee vitamins, then transitioning to Sunshine herbs, then to being an alternative, complementary, new energy medicine person.  Mainstream medicine is my "back up", when needed.  I just wonder how long it will be before the government takes those rights away from us.

I just found the following from Wikipedia:

"The term Golden Age (Χρυσόν Γένος) comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five (or more) Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and then the present (Iron), which is a period of decline. By extension "Golden Age" denotes a period of primordial peace, harmony, stability, and prosperity."

and ...

"In classical mythology the Golden Age was presided over by the deity Astraea, who was identified with Justice. She lived with men until the end of the Silver Age, but in the Brazen Age, when men became violent and greedy, fled to the stars, where she appears as the
constellation Virgo, holding the scales of Justice, or Libra.[2]"

All of my quotes this morning come from www.quotegarden.com ... this is one of my favorite resources.

FEAR:  False Evidence Appearing Real.  ~Author unknown

You  block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.
~Mary  Manin Morrissey

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.  ~Bill Cosby

Keep your fears to yourself but share your courage with others.  ~Robert Louis  Stevenson

There is much in the world to make us afraid.
There is much more in our faith  to make us unafraid.  ~Frederick W. Cropp

Fear cannot take what you do not give it.  ~Christopher Coan

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.  ~Joseph Campbell

Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.  ~Samuel Butler

He who fears something gives it power over him.  ~Moorish Proverb

Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.  ~Author  Unknown

“Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.”  ~Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands of  Scotland & The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides

“A half-truth is a whole lie.”  ~Jewish proverb

“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”
~Friedrich Nietzsche

“When a man is penalized for honesty he learns to lie.”  ~Criss Jami

Read the book "The Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them" ... this is geared toward women, but men ... read it, too ... women can also be a misogynist!  Don't know what a misogynist is?  Look it up ... or click on my "Words" tab.  I put it there, for convenience of this blog. 

“One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.”  ~Michael J. Fox

“I wondered about her chicken-and-egg relationship with Dad. Which came first? Her helplessness or his controlling?”  ~Justina Chen Headley, North of Beautiful

      I woke up early this morning and decided I had time to scrub my kitchen and bathroom floors.  I still scrub my floors on my hands and knees.  That's the way my mother did it.  She passed down that tradition and taught me (well, all of us kids, even the boys) the fine art of "floor scrubbing".  My sister still does the same, as far as I know.  In our house, 'cleanliness was next to Godliness' ... if you know what the 'white glove treatment' is, then you know what I mean.  It was a Saturday ritual - laundry (sheets), vacuuming, scrubbing and waxing floors (no one-application clean 'n shine), dusting, cleaning windows, etc.  Dusting included the mopboards!  Also, you didn't 'feather dust' ... knick knacks were taken down, the furniture dusted and polished (that included the legs of the chairs, etc.)!  And toilets ... not with a brush ... and shiny clean, inside and out!
      Actually, Mom is probably shaking her finger at me, or shaking her head in dismay.  Once I became a mother I somewhat lowered my standards so I could have a little more quality time with family (sometimes that worked, sometimes not).  The irony of that fact is how 'tough' my own daughter felt I was with cleanliness and housework ... little does she know, she had it easy, in comparison.  I continue with what she taught me, as I enjoy a clean doman ... I just do it less often, especially as I age ... go figure, huh?
       A while back, at my daughter's house, I did a batch of dishes for her and I was amused when she came to rinse them - she 'caught' me - made me re-wash a dish I didn't get clean.  It was a new conquest; she'd probably been waiting years to conquer finding mom's imperfection in the kitchen.  We giggled, and finished the dishes.

I have chosen to dismantle my You Tube videos, for now, until I see what effect ACTA is going to have on the music industry.  I enjoy taking videos of musicians, in particular, and sharing their talents.  I love music and thought my videos were worth sharing, however, I don't have "signed" agreements from each and every one (actually none).  I usually ask for their permission and most are fine with that, but that verbal agreement doesn't hold up in a court of law.  From what I've read, I can freely post any of my photoshows or videos, if they are from a "public" event.  Knowing that, I still try to ask permission - it's easy to inadvertently step on someone's toes and not even know it - until you receive a summons or something to bring you into court.

I am keeping my You Tube page though and the link to it here on my website.  Later, I will be posting some of my videos that are not about or of, musicians and their bands.  I also want to keep my You Tube page so I can still browse for things for myself, to be able to share my own favorites, by other people.  ~nr lenz

It's a melancholy day ...
      I miss my parents - even after all these years.  I do all right most of the time until their special holidays roll around.  I miss looking for that "special" greeting card to send.  I miss not being able to pick up the phone, and hear their voices.
      With Dad, I miss challenging him to a game of Scrabble (which I usually lost).  I miss sharing my writings with him and having him tell me how I had a special gift for it.  That meant so much, since I always revered him for his intellect, and wit!
      Fortunately, for me, my father and I had a bond and closeness that crossed boundaries of divorce.  I was only seven years young then.  ~nr lenz

Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance.  ~Ruth E.  Renkel

By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong.  ~Charles Wadsworth (1814-1882)

My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.
~Jim Valvano