Posted on 08/13/2010 10:58:49 PM PDT by Ari Bussel
If We Had Only Listened by Norma Zager
“Beware the Ides of March…” fortuitous words Julius refused to heed
Can man change destiny by simply heeding the advice of those who seek to warn of impending danger?
Everyday we hear predictions by modern soothsayers about our world situation. We are on the verge of disaster as a nation. The world is on the brink of war, etc. etc. So we must ask ourselves, what is a soothsayer? Despite the well-known image seers conjure, in flowing robs gazing into crystals or fires, or begging for pennies in the streets, there is often a problem when refusing to heed their ominous warnings.
Why am I broaching a topic so seemingly ridiculous? Perhaps it is, or maybe not so silly.
How does one separate the true soothsayer from those with political agendas? Who can you trust? And why are we so eager to believe a psychic who says we will win the lottery and ignore someone who says the world is headed for nuclear disaster? Hey, don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just telling it like it is here.
First Baron Robert Vansittart (yes, I never heard of him either) was a very interesting British noble.
A cousin to Lawrence of Arabia, he served as Mayor of London and in Parliament. These are not the accomplishments I tout, however. He is an interesting study because he was one of the most vocal opponents to Hitler in Britain before the war.
Loudly and often, he warned Germany was arming for conflict and a danger to Europe.
Of course in hindsight he was absolutely correct in his assumption Hitler would attack when strong enough.
He did, and the rest, as they say, is history.
So begs the question, was he a soothsayer or merely a very astute political observer with a highly developed sense of psychology at recognizing a madman?
Also begs the question: do credentials matter? He was right. The fact he was a Lord and fancy-schmancy British gentlemen, and not dressed in rags, does not change the reality he warned Hitler was a nut job.
Must one cover themselves in ashes to get a little attention for their predictions?
Ah, and then there is Nostradamus.
He used fire to predict. To this day there are arguments about his quatrains among experts. But aren’t there always about such issues? Does anyone believe that when Julius Caesar was warned about the Ides of March he took it seriously? I am certain he walked back to the Roman Senate and asked the first friend he saw, “Hey, Vinnie, what do you think of that soothsayer over on the corner of Coliseum and Forum Blvd. The guy freaked me out a little when he said something about bewaring the Ides of March.”
“Julie baby don’t even think about it. He’s a real drama queen. He predicted my wife would leave me for some guy in Pompeii.”
“What happened?”
“Don’t know. Haven’t seen or heard from her since she moved there before the volcano thing.”
What one cannot dispute is that Nostradamus made his bones by predicting with frightening accuracy the death of King Henry II. “The young lion will overcome the older one, in a field of combat in single fight: He will pierce his eyes in their golden cage; two wounds in one, then he dies a cruel death.” He certainly commanded everyone’s attention in a hurry.
Henry II, who used the symbol of lion on his private coat-of-arms, died after a spear was broken in combat and injured the king’s throat. That’s two. Julius and King Henry.
Even Honest Abe was said to have predicted his own death.
So what qualifies one to be a soothsayer?
Is Steve Emerson, a highly respected terrorist expert one? Because he writes books, lectures and walks among us like any other mortal, does that mean his predictions and warnings about Islamic extremists should be disregarded as political fodder? Or countless others like John Bolton, Bridget Gabriel or even your neighbor down the block?
I agree that with all the warnings that bombard us daily it may be a tad difficult to sift through the legit, but impossible, no.
Ah, and how best to do that?
Actually, it is easier now than ever before.
We live in an age of instant information.
If someone comes forward and says, we are in a holy war and this is why, and this is what will happen if you ignore the signs, what then?
Israel is in grave danger from the cuckoos in Iran.
Easy. Are the signs to which the seer alludes valid? Hello, Google.
One second is all it takes to verify the info.
And we do. Every Day. And we choose to ignore what we see with our own eyes.
I get it. We would rather believe all is good and right with the world even though evidence to the contrary is observed on a minute-by-minute basis.
I continue.
“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble.”
Shakespeare used soothsayers in his work. Two of the most famous were Julius Caesar and Macbeth.
Why? Was it for effect or drama? Scary stuff cause witches were frightening?
No.
Because throughout history there have been those who accurately warned of coming events.
Yes, even in the Bible.
Here is a biggie.
Don’t eat that apple, Eve.
Noah, build an ark cause it’s gonna rain.
Noah listened, Eve didn’t and the results were drastically different.
Let my people go, Pharaoh.
Is that all you got, Moses? No way.
Uh oh.
Someone will betray you tonight, Jesus.
Me? No way, my disciples adore me.
Have you not met Judas?
Cassandra, of Greek tragedy, had horrific visions of future, events no one believed, even when those visions came true. Her warnings included the Trojan horse, and Agamemnon’s death.
There was also Pythia priestess at the oracle at Delphi. In 67 A.D., she told Nero, number 73 would mark the hour of his demise. Angry Nero had Pythia buried alive and thought he would die at 73, but actually committed suicide at 30 following the revolt by Galba, who was – yep you guessed it—73 years old.
Edgar Cayce who made predictions in a trance and was accurate about the Great Depression and Hitler.
The Nechung Oracle of Tibet who predicted the Dalai Lama would have to flee Tibet and in 1959, it happened.
In the novel Looking Backward: 2000-1997, written by Edward Bellamy in 1888 he writes about the United States in 2000 as a socialist utopia with shorter work weeks for menial laborers and more leisure time for all workers. He predicted skyscrapers, debit cards, and a device used to hear and view concerts in the home strangely resembling television.
Jules Verne writer or prophet when he wrote of traveling to the moon, submarines and time travel?
Or is it merely the old, what-man-can-conceive-he-can-achieve theory?
Do we predict events, or do we go out of our way to ensure they happen using the self-fulfilling-prophecy routine?
So, what has all this mumbo jumbo to do with current affairs?
I’d argue, everything.
There are prophets and soothsayers around us everywhere cautioning us of dangers and destruction. Some of us believe, but some do not. However, choosing not to heed a warning that is on the money will not change the outcome of something already predestined. What heeding a warning will do is allow man to alter events, even ones already in motion.
Free will is a double-edged sword. Failure to accept advice, and paying dearly for that choice, does not diminish the consequences. Nor will using rationalizations like “it was destiny or meant to be or man has no control, to alleviate guilt over events that could have been prevented ease the pain.
Was 9/11 foreseeable and even preventable? Some say, yes. Is the march of Islam to overtake western civilization not only predictable, but already well accomplished? Yes. Can it be prevented? That would be up to mankind. Or shall we ignore the soothsayers and say when the bombs begin flying toward Israel:
“Oh well I guess there is nothing we could have done. It was simply meant to be.”
### The series “Postcards from America—Postcards from Israel” by Ari Bussel and Norma Zager is a compilation of articles capturing the essence of life in America and Israel during the first two decades of the 21st Century.
The writers invite readers to view and experience an Israel and her politics through their eyes, Israel visitors rarely discover.
This point—and often—counter-point presentation is sprinkled with humor and sadness and attempts to tackle serious and relevant issues of the day. The series began in 2008, appears both in print in the USA and on numerous websites and is followed regularly by readership from around the world.
© “Postcards from Israel—Postcards from America,” August, 2010 Contact: aribussel@gmail.com
So each prediction comes with the unstated stipulation that people will ignore it.
The prediction is made, people ignore it and then it happens. Which makes the prediction a prediction.
If everyone took heed of predictions then there would be no predictions because what was predicted did not occur.
The trick is to make sure the most blood spilled is from the other guy.
All of us are gonna die.
Most of us will have no choice in how that death occurs.
WHAT WE DO get to choose is how we LIVE each day.
Ah! And then there was George Orwell. Animal Farm. The pigs inflame the animals to revolt by convincing them they have it bad under (Bush) the Farmer. They revolt and give the pigs absolute power. Then the animals find out what oppression really is.
1984 - Big Brother is Watching You! Listen to the Ministry of Truth (television)! How can you not listen - it’s everywhere you go.
George Orwell. He told us before it happened.
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