What Goes Around Comes Around

Really. Even if it takes six hundred and fifty or so years.

I have been reading so much about the events of 1066 and the fall of Anglo Saxon Britain that it is starting to connect up in my head with other things, such as the fall of Rome in 410 A.D.

Well, it is not completely unrelated. A once great military power falls; their capital taken. There are Germans involved. Only, with the fall of Rome, it was the Germans who were doing the stomping. Six hundred and fifty years later, the Germans are getting their butts kicked by the Normans and their weaselly cousins, the Vikings. See - what goes around, comes around.

When Rome fell, people groaned that it was because they had embraced the Christian faith. While they were pagan, they were masters of the world. This prompted St. Augustine to write his City of God to explain why this is not a reason to start worshipping Zeus once again. Of course Alaric, the Germanic leader who defeated the Romans was a Christian as well so the theory does not completely hold water but..... a few decades after this event, the Germanic tribes were invading Britain because those residents were soft and the pagan invaders were still a warrior culture and much better at fighting. So Hengist and Horsa invade Britain. Then, the Romans send some guy to convert them to Christianity. They start spending their days, vowing celibacy and hanging around churches. Next thing you know, the pagan Vikings come in and totally kick their butts, weakening them to the point that the Normans can finish the job.

There are lessons here: what goes around, comes around. It might take a really long time but I do think karma catches up with you. Also being a Christian is risky; it leads to being on the receiving end of some serious butt kicking. On this winter solstice, I propose a little Woden worship. It just might help save Western civilization.