This is an essay about perspective. It begins in Caernarfon Castle, Wales sometime around 2010, known to me as The Awakening Years.
Visiting Caernarfon was one of those rare occasions that come along when you least expect it. I had traveled with a group of friends to Manchester, England, with room in the schedule for a side trip. Being the only driver among us somewhat familiar with the ‘wrong’ side of the road, it fell on me to be in command of the rental van. As it happens my family originally emigrated from Wales, and a longing to visit the ancestral homeland might have influenced where we ended up that day. The others didn’t object.
Caernarfon is a spectacular Edwardian-era castle in a preserved state of disrepair, as is common these days. We did the usual walking tour and picture-taking, to which long-lost flash cards can probably attest. Centuries from now, historians will note the end of printed pictures, having no photo albums after 2008 or so in their archives. But I can assure you there were happy group-photos with appropriate backdrops. What I remember most however was the magnificent display in the Castle museum, dedicated to the Royal Welch Fusiliers, 23rd Regiment. I don’t know why they spelled it with a ‘c’. It turns out that Caernarfon is the historic home of the Fusiliers, which still exist today.
The R.W.F. is important, because it has a unique perspective on a pivotal American event, having fought from beginning to end through the “American War for Independence”, a.k.a. the Revolutionary War. Things are called differently on the other side of the Atlantic, it seems. Posted to New York in 1773, then Boston in 1774, the regiment was involved from the very beginnings at Lexington and Concord in 1775, and then Bunker Hill, Long Island, and other actions all over New York and Connecticut into ’76 and ’77. They were at Brandywine, Germantown, and the capture of Philadelphia.
They served as Marines briefly in ’78 engaging the French at sea, then back to Connecticut before being attached in dwindling numbers to Cornwallis’ forces in South Carolina in 1780. By all accounts, their historic service before, during, and after the Revolution was like getting put through a meat grinder. The R.W.F. has been built and re-built many times, and their campaign flags have an astonishing list of battles all over the world spanning 350 years.
By the end of the Revolution they defended one of the last Redoubts at the Battle of Yorktown, facing both the French and American forces, and never surrendered their battle flag. This last detail is a point of pride in the R.W.F. account but it was only afforded because there were so few men left that no-one noticed the missing flag, when marching past during the official surrender.
Perspectives
Absorbing the placards and info-graphics in that museum, what fascinated me was how the Fusiliers characterized the war. By their account, the 23rd was already a depleted unit when they were sent in 1773. Ships had to be scrounged from elsewhere just to transport them, being as the British were engaged on so many other fronts. The best Generals were not available either, nor was the best equipment. Britain had just fought to a stalemate in Pontiac’s Rebellion against the Native Americans, and lost against the Kingdom of Mysore (southern India).
To the Empire, the American War of Independence was a kind of Civil War, during which they were simultaneously fighting the French and Spanish. They even increased tempo by going to war with the Dutch and with India in 1780 because, you know, they were Britain. The 1783 Treaty of Paris settled a host of matters including French territory, Spanish territory, future Canadian territory, and many colonial places like Bahamas, Grenada, and Senegal, among others. In essence, the Crown was fighting a world war against its primary rivals, capping off a century of war they had already been fighting on various continents.
The North American campaign was thus one interest among many, as experienced by the over-extended British. Quite a different picture from the chest-thumping accounts that we read about when visiting American historic battlefields. Growing up in Virginia I enjoyed many visits to those battlefields, spanning at least three different wars. Our streets were named after Civil War Generals, and my middle school after Daniel Morgan — a Welsh-American, by the way. George Washington had a survey office in our town. Lots of little historic placards on country roads, which were great material for history assignments. Virginia and surrounding states are literally full of these black and white markers. But I don’t remember any of them stating we were just a minor unresolved skirmish while the British were Otherwise Occupied with More Important Matters.
We were heroic freedom fighters, rising up against all odds for God and country. Our historic account is much more inspiring than the British rendition of events, vanquishing the impossible foe as we did. We can compare ourselves to the Rebel Alliance blowing up the Death Star….twice. King William may have brooded over his map in 1781 the same way Emperor Palpatine scowled at Luke from behind his hooded cloak. What a pathetic band we must have seemed. And yet, who can deny the truths of what the Crown was involved with worldwide? Our perspective was limited to our own sphere, our own point of view.
Victors
With most of the news related to Ukraine these days we would be wise to realize that 90% of it is propaganda. Whatever happens in the aftermath, the official story will be written by the Victors, as always. I sometimes wonder what future history books will say about this entire era. Actually I rather enjoy hypothesizing, figuring, and imagining how things truly transpire — whether past, present, or future. Some scenario sketches by future narrative managers might read like this:
“America was the last of the historic Empires, and its Fall can be seen through a similar lens as the Fall of Rome. It encompassed events like Biden’s Folly, which led to the nuclear war in Europe, and the Great Meltdown, when the world’s starving masses burned down all the banks. A Coronal Mass Ejection wiped out the primitive global databases of the time, and so the Year count was reset to 1 NCE. Of particular note was The Cleansing, which some call The Rapture — that great die-off triggered by bio-engineered DNA devices, ultimately resulting the ‘all-natural’ health movement as a kind of backlash, extending lifespans to 120.”
Or here is one that has some likelihood:
“Students are reminded that the world of the 21st Century was a time when the Ren all spoke different languages from standard Zhōngwén, and before all global districts and schools were unified under our Great Leader. The success of the early BeltRoad was realized by clever application of Sun Tzu; allowing the enemies of progress to eventually destroy themselves. Colonization of the solar system would have been an impossible achievement under the old Western system, but be further reminded that we do not discuss such matters with the underclass, who should instead focus on their work.”
Or here is one that is more than a little chilling:
“The Great Ayin of the 5Eye Dominion has recorded how centuries of conflict were finally solved by reducing the Earth’s population to 500 million, and by careful management of the planet’s resources. By transitioning to Freedom Cities and fully managed Nature Zones, mankind’s footprint on the earth was reduced by 99%. By managing all communication and creative output, the potential for future conflict was also reduced by 99%. Citizens are instructed to be thankful for the elimination of the old ‘my body’ model of humanity, in favor of the new ‘we are one’ model. True happiness only comes when we work together.”
Responsibilities
Rewinding to where we are right now Reader, chilling futures aside, I put it to you that we have some responsibility for what happens next. Some of us write about it all the time. We warn people about what is coming and share ideas on prudent steps to take. But of course, without a Big Voice, most of the best ideas are just lost in the white noise. Lost in the buzzing of the hive. It seems we have 1001 distractions to discuss, without ever actually planning for the future. Tucker, Hunter’s cocaine, the latest Trans-offenses-to-humanity — so many side shows.
I suggest that accurate perspective is in short supply, since we can’t even understand what is going on as events in the world unfold. Like Tom Cruise, I feel like screaming “I want the TRUTH”, but that is not the way it works in the big theater of the Imaginarium. The ‘truth’ we can glean was just written by some smug script-writer on a terminal inside a SCIF. Maybe an algorithm indicated which news item should be uploaded next. Heck, maybe it is all being automated with “A.I.” by this point. Trusting science or news, military reports or personalities … do so at your own risk.
Perspective for me these days means something I can verify in-person, or a conversation I can have with a human. A book I can hold in my hand, or claims that harmonize with intuition or other known facts. Wrenches in my toolbox, weather that I can see and feel. The most valued item I have in my possession is a marked-up Bible. It has King James on the left column, and NIV on the right. It has note sheets stuffed in it here and there. Then of course is a Strong’s Concordance, which I highly recommend if word etymology and translation interests you. We actually have a full set of Britannica’s from the mid-90s if you can believe it, representing the sum total of accepted history up until that point. Then there is a giant tome called Funk & Wagnall’s Encyclopedic Dictionary, which must be about 80 years old. There are others, but the library still has a long, long way to go.
Friends, we are approaching a time when most content like this essay will be suspicious, because we won’t know if a human wrote it. Maybe print will enjoy a resurgence the way vinyl LP’s have. I could kick myself for transitioning to digital music all those years ago, just as I regret subscription-based software now. Look for an upcoming article on this ‘silo-ing’ of humanity. It makes me thankful for the various old-school systems that are still in widespread use here in the Philippines, such as paper records and ink stamps. Ball-pen signatures, photographs. Coins and cash, for now anyway.
My estimation is that 80% of us are just whistling past the graveyard, hoping the problems go away. Hoping the world regains its sanity. Hoping that the election in 2024 will turn a corner somehow. Trusting the system. Although I can’t exactly empathize with this kind of paralysis, I do think I understand it. People are just wired differently, and thank God there were a few in 1775 with the foresight to risk it all. My advice is, find who those people are today and hear what they have to say. Don’t count on a Hail Mary pass with two seconds on the clock.
We have problems to solve, huge ones. Starting with the pure basics such as: what are the facts we are dealing with? Can we have reliable communication? Can we be safe in our persons? There used to always be solid answers to these questions, and now there are not. But I thank the Lord God every day that He reigns on high. That is the source of my eternal comfort, Reader, and I hope it is for you too.
In closing, The Royal Welch Fusiliers provide us a critical context in analyzing that important time period of American history. Events could have easily gone the other way. Interestingly, the Regiment would go on to fight alongside the US Marines in the Boxer Rebellion, circa 1900. Might it be that some of our seeming enemies will instead prove to be friends? Might some of our friends prove to be enemies, when the cards are finally all laid on the table?
Think on these things, Reader. Think carefully. The show seems to be heading into the final act.
Until next time, Peace be upon you in Christ
Visayas Outpost
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Don’t give up ground so easily.
Loved that.