Mocked By Life

Some historical persons exude a deep, inner sorrow and thorough disappointment that one may feel even today. Looking at this miniature portrait of the eldest daughter of Henry VIII, the Tudor-Queen Mary I (1516–1558), from her youth makes me feel that she, all through her life, was subjected to so many intolerable sufferings and disappointments that it's almost inhuman. She had, what appears to be, a good childhood with parents who seemed to love her and each other until the day her father set eyes on another woman: Anne Boleyn.

To marry this seductive "Jezabel", he had to get rid of his first wife, the Spanish born Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), who had failed him in giving birth to the male heir that would secure the new dynasty of the Tudors. That exploit took an annulment and the institution of a new, Protestantic State religion. Also, by declaring his marriage to Catherine Null And Void, he had to change the status of his daughter, Mary, from a legit "Princess" to a mere illegitimate "Lady". Did he have any qualms of robbing his child of her Royal status? I don't think so, and he did the same to his daughter by Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth (I), after beheading her mother.

Mary I 

When I see this portrait of Mary, I sense a disappointment in her life and a deep depression that makes me sad for her. She, being a vengeful Catholic, in a new, Protestant world, that she resented both for religious and personal reasons, was nicknamed "Bloody Mary", which was well deserved by her prosecuting and burning more than 280 religious dissenters at the stake. Of course, she hated her father's new religion as well as the status of illegitimacy that he gave her when he was besotted by Anne Boleyn, but not of course that she took it out on religious dissidents. In my opinion she went too far, and it was even in vain, as England didn't comply with her wishes to become Catholic once again.

Mary wasn't ugly, and she may have had good chances of getting married into another foreign, royal house. After all, originally her mother was a high status Princess out of Spain which should have secured her daughter a fine royal position somewhere out of England, but somehow that never happened. Her father also let her down on that "career move", but after inheriting the throne she decided to marry someone from her maternal family, the only legitimate son of the Emperor Charles V, Philip (1527–1598). 

It seems that Mary had romantic feelings for her husband, which he presumably didn't have for her, but married they were, and the marriage must have been consummated as she more than once thought that she was pregnant. Alas, she didn't even have that much wished for child that, sort of, might have been the bonus that brought some of the missing parts of her life together. No, her dynastic frustrations stayed with her, and when she died in 1558 it, most likely, was from a tumor of the womb that had cheated her into thinking that she was pregnant. Everything in her life seemed to mock her, and although I don't like that about the c. 280 dissidents being burned at the stake, I feel sorry for her. To me, it seems that poor Mary never had the life as a grown-up that she - and everybody else - expected her to have when she was her beloved, but discarded, mother's only surviving child.  

 

Wikipedia 

 

 

Britannica

 

 

 

 

Poem by Else Cederborg: "Befriending Assassins"

  

 

Befriending Assassins  

 

Assassins, also called words

all ready to kill

some dressed in black

most of them in red, like blood

even dripping with it

 

Those creatures I let in

even let them roam my home

I, the hostess, feel their power

victimized by myself

stupid me, all too trusting

when befriending assassins

 

All Rigths Reserved © Copyright by Else Cederborg

 

Fault And Faultlessness

Recently I heard of a woman of 82 who was robbed by someone who went for her handbag in broad daylight. It's her opinion that the reason why she was targeted was that she walks with a cane, which of course indicates that she shall not be able to put up much of a fight to defend herself or her belongings. Somehow, that fact makes her feel humiliated, not only by the robber, but also by her own disability. 

Of course, this robbery is neither the first nor the last time something like that is happening, but in this case, the robber was a (maybe illegal???) visitor or immigrant from an East European country, which wasn't the first time one of those guys did something like this. Unfortunately, by now they have a reputation of being criminal and often violent, yes, by now, with incidents like this one, people almost take for granted that the criminal is either from East Europe or the Middle East. Something, which is not quite fair, but that's the situation now after numerous robberies, burglaries and even murders to obtain what these people lack: Money and luxury items. We, the legit citizens, try to get rid of them, but in several cases it has proven impossible as they simply return at will. They may be evicted over and over, but here they are, back again, ready for "business"!

 

These years have seen many deeply disturbing criminal cases, as both everybody and nobody seems to be the true criminals because those who commit the crimes take excuse in their social situations, e.g. as formerly abused children or the like. One of the worst cases of this kind of crimes, is the one in which an old woman, 85 years old, who never bothered anyone, was victimized by a 15-year-old boy. She had been a nice and decent person, actually, a model citizen, all her life. Also, she was a woman who had made an effort to get by on her meager pension as best she could. Being both old and poor, she should have been left alone by criminals, but as we only know too well, fairness isn't always to be had.

Guilty as charged: I love this story of granny-bravery, but that's not the most common outcome of a fight with a robber 

 

One day when the 85 years old woman was walking home after shopping the most necessary groceries for her household, she met her murderer: For some reason best known to himself a young man of 15 followed in her footsteps, unbeknown to her and without having any knowledge of whom,  and what she was. When she opened her door and stepped into "the safety of" her home, he was right behind her and forced his way in. She told him to leave, which made him furious. He hit her in the face and then even raped her. When she told him that he was an evil, bad boy and that she was calling the police on him, he got so enraged that he decided to kill her for his own protection. A decision which he then set out to do in such a way that when her son found her dead body the next day, her head was almost cut loose from her neck. Also, she has a lot of deep cuts and bruises all over her body and face.

She is dead, but the young murderer wasn't arrested until several months later. Then it appears that in reality he is a tragic figure who has had a terrible childhood with alcoholic parents, abuse, etc., etc.. That's awful, but what has that got to do with this poor, old and dead woman? Did he target her because she resembled someone who had been evil to him, and if so, how could that be the fault of this particular old woman who didn't know him until they met? No, it was not in any way her fault, it was a coincidence or fate itself. Also, it was especially unfair to someone who had been a decent person all her life - just as life had been unfair to the small child who had grown into a 15 years old murderer. 

However, in my opinion, the misuse of the fact of his miserable childhood as an excuse for his bloody deed doesn't hold water because the one he targeted had nothing to do with his past. Had he targeted someone who had abused him or just been cruel to him when a child I might have accepted it as a kind of excuse, but still, only up to a point. I do find it hard always to condone revenge, but still, I understand it - at least up to a point.

The Boy Who Was Turned Into A Sex-Doll

  

The Roman Empress Poppaea 

Not everybody loved Poppaea Augusta Sabina (31-65), but the Roman emperor, Nero, was totally besotted by her. His infatuation was one major reason for him to have his mother, Agrippina, killed when she resented his plans of marrying Poppaea who was his mistress, although married to one of his friends. At that time he himself was married to the stepdaughter of Agrippina from her marriage to emperor Claudius, namely Octavia. 

Nero was just as brutal as he looks, and one of the many people he had killed was the son of Poppaea, Rufius Crispinus, whom he considered a rival to the throne. No matter whom, and no matter what he saw as endangering the Empirical power, his mother had worked tirelessly to obtain for him was accepted in his life: He was relentless: Both Agrippina, Octavia and her then husband were killed when he set his will at marrying Poppaea. When he married her, she was pregnant with his daughter, Claudia, but the baby only lived for a couple of months. Some time later, Poppaea got pregnant once again, but that didn't protect her from the cruelty of her new husband, Nero. In a heated argument, Nero kicked her in the stomach, which led to her premature death.
 

In his looks, Nero reminds me of Mussolini: Both of them looks like what might be called "human buffaloes" 

Well, Nero, who really was totally besotted by Poppaea mourned her death - and the lack of her body. That's why he had her embalmed in fragrant oils and spices before putting her to rest in the mausoleum of Emperor Augustus. Still mourning, he started to look for a substitute of his wife, and his eye fell upon a woman who resembled her in her looks. Being a man of wants and demands that weren't fit to be subdued, he sent for this woman and kept her for a while. However, even though she may have resembled Poppaea in her looks, he found out that she wasn't like her and thus not what he was looking for, so he let his wandering eye go on another search. Unluckily for the one it fell upon, he did find someone who presumably was the spitting image of the dead Poppaea, namely a slave by the name of Sporus (died 69).

A slave becoming an empress, that would be something, but that was not what happened. Sporus wasn't a woman, but an adolescent boy, whom Nero had married, before or after he had him castrated to keep his uncanny likeness to his dead wife. When they appeared in public, Sporus wore the clothes and regalia of the Empress, and Nero called him by her name. One might say, that the boy Sporus lost his real life in order to please the emperor as best he could. 

“This Sporus, decked out with the finery of the empresses and riding in a litter, he took with him to the assizes and marts of Greece, and later at Rome through the Street of the Images, fondly kissing him from time to time.“ (Suetonius) 

However, Sporus didn't survive the downfall of Nero in 68. When he learnt that he was to be raped in public as some kind of extra humiliation of the by then dead Nero, he committed suicide. All in all a grusome tale of all kinds of cruelty and abuse!  

 

https://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/nero.html

https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-emperor-nero/

 

Wikipedia

 

Life Insurances Don't Insure YOUR Life

"Money makes the world go around", or so they say. Well, to have or have not is a crucial distinction when it comes to money, and most often we don't have a choice, unless we decide to turn our back on society, work and banks or to resort to crimes. 

A wonderful plan, but will is work? Many have tried doing something like that, just to be brought back home in handcuffs. Of course, they may have had a good time spending what's not theirs, but no, being wiser and more ambitious than that what we are looking for is a fool-proof, forever-solution that will not send us to jail. One plan stands out, even though it doesn't always lead to the desired outcome: Someone has a loaded, elderly relative whom he/she is to inherit. Being a greedy grifter, the heir decides to speed up the process, taking care that this murder isn't an obvious crime. I feel assured that some did just that - and got away with it.

Others turn their fully legal job into a robbery-asset, and banks being where money is a bank tiller may get ideas. Not good ideas, but still, ideas that may or may not work out .... 

Sadly enough, morals come cheap for some, which money doesn't, as all they want is money. To defraud or even murder for money seems to be quite "natural" to some, even when the target e.g. is one of their own children. When that's the case, then there may be a special way to earn money by killing the child, wife, husband or parent: Set up a life insurance on the one whom they plan to "do in". 

I remember a gruesome story of a man who married a young and loving woman for no other reason than to be able to set up a life insurance for her. Actually, I remember a couple of such stories of pre-mediated murder plans, both by men and women .... 

 

https://scholarship.law.campbell.edu/fac_sw/140/#:~:text=Of%20course%2C%20if%20a%20beneficiary%20murders%20a,he%20may%20be%20prosecuted%20for%20insurance%20fraud. 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/us/karl-karlsen-wife-insurance.html 

 

https://iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/2021-08-31-cop-allegedly-insured-family-members-hired-hitmen-to-kill-them-and-claimed-insurance-money/ 

 

Wikipedia

 

Poem: "Eyes Everywhere"

 

Eyes Everywhere  

 

Some people grow eyes everywhere

actually, their eyes are coming and going  

sometimes they even go blind

 

Desperate, they cover their eyes in tears for protection 

sometimes they put on bandages or treat them with eye lotions 

some choose to sit in darkened rooms, eyes covered in moist tears

and yes, blind they are, although still seeing

 

Letting the tears trickle down for solace, they feel a quenched sadness

while the flames take over within, even the wetness get scorched

Yes, their thousand eyes burn in tears

blinded, they stumble off for the eye lotions and some bandages 

 

All Rigths Reserved © Copyright by Else Cederborg

Franz Kafka's Brave And Compassionate Sister, Ottla

Ottilia (called Ottla) was the youngest of Franz Kafka's sisters. She was his favorite sister, and they were very close, helping each other when help was needed. 

Franz and Ottla

For instance, he supported her decisions when she, as a very young woman, entered an agricultural program. Being the only woman, she met problems that were difficult to handle, and he told her that it would be perfectly all right both to stay and to leave if that was what she felt was the best. As it is, she persevered and got herself an education that made it possible for her to manage her brother-in-law's farming estate. 

In 1920 Ottla married a Czech Catholic, Joseph David, and the couple had two daughters, Vera and Helene. Ottla had been able to keep the contact with her brother, but mostly by letters. However, the tuberculosis of Franz Kafka worsened, and in 1924 he died. 

With WWII life became very difficult for Ottla and her family. Presumably, in order to protect her daughters and their father against the Nazi persecutions she divorced her husband in 1942, but that didn't save herself from being deported to Terezin. 

Ottla and her husband, Joseph David 

When her daughters begged to follow her their request was refused, and somehow they were not deported, but were able to stay with their father. They may have spent their time collecting and editing the letters from their uncle to their mother which later on were published as "Letters to Ottla and the Family" by Franz Kafka. Sadly enough, her letters to her brother were lost.

Franz Kafka made his name as an author, but his sister, Ottla, made hers as a genuine heroine when she volunteered to follow a group of Polish, Jewish children to Auschwitz. She did so because she took compassion on them when they arrived in Terezin, sick and terrified, with shaven heads and weak from hunger. On the 7th of October 1943 she was murdered with them. In Terezin she had secretly been their councillor, trying to console and comfort them, and she didn't want to let them down as they were terrified of what might happen to them.

https://read.dukeupress.edu/new-german-critique/article-abstract/52/1%20(154)/31/394922/Death-Writes-Franz-Kafka-Tubercular-Soundscapes?redirectedFrom=fulltext 

 

https://dailykafka.tumblr.com/post/741124990537285632 

 

Wikipedia