My comment to the Euractiv Titanic article.
I submitted this comment to EurActiv at the foot of their Titanic article, linked here, with some extra editing and a link to the Europa passage by the father of modern journalism (Murdoch employees take not) W.T. Stead.
WT Stead in Europa 1899 wrote - "The Federation of Europe at the present moment is like an embryo in the later stages of gestation. It is not yet ready to be born. But it has quickened with conscious life, and already the Continent feels the approaching travail.
It has been a slow process. The great births of Time need great preparations. Under the foundations of the Cathedral of St. Isaac at St. Petersburg a whole forest of timber was sunk in piles before a basis strong enough for the mighty dome could be secured. The Federation of Europe is a temple far vaster than any pile of masonry put together by the hands of man. In the morass of the past its foundations have been reared, not upon the spoils of the forest, but upon generation of living men who have gone down into the void from red battlefield and pest-smitten camp and leaguered city in order that upon their bones the Destinies might lay the first courses of the new State. Carlyle's famous illustration of the Russian regiment at the siege of Zeidnitz, which was deliberately marched into the fosse in order that those followed after might march to victory over a pavement of human heads, represents only too faithfully the material on which these great world fabrics are reared."
We must view the present EU as a necessary learning experience and sacrifice it in pursuit of something more truly worthwhile. Only by a completely fresh start can there be any hope for Europe and the values of the West, the original concept of which the present construct was intended to promote.
WT Stead in Europa 1899 wrote - "The Federation of Europe at the present moment is like an embryo in the later stages of gestation. It is not yet ready to be born. But it has quickened with conscious life, and already the Continent feels the approaching travail.
It has been a slow process. The great births of Time need great preparations. Under the foundations of the Cathedral of St. Isaac at St. Petersburg a whole forest of timber was sunk in piles before a basis strong enough for the mighty dome could be secured. The Federation of Europe is a temple far vaster than any pile of masonry put together by the hands of man. In the morass of the past its foundations have been reared, not upon the spoils of the forest, but upon generation of living men who have gone down into the void from red battlefield and pest-smitten camp and leaguered city in order that upon their bones the Destinies might lay the first courses of the new State. Carlyle's famous illustration of the Russian regiment at the siege of Zeidnitz, which was deliberately marched into the fosse in order that those followed after might march to victory over a pavement of human heads, represents only too faithfully the material on which these great world fabrics are reared."
We must view the present EU as a necessary learning experience and sacrifice it in pursuit of something more truly worthwhile. Only by a completely fresh start can there be any hope for Europe and the values of the West, the original concept of which the present construct was intended to promote.
posted by Martin at 7:16 AM
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