Jewells of Thought

Reading these books this year, after a lull of at least 3 years the situation of epidemics seemed fresh. Although I have questions as to the validity of that argument. These books detail an explicit epidemic where dead bodies were literally out on the streets piling up. Did we actually see this type of urgency?

We are all entitled to our opinions, at least we did have that freedom. Some people, however, wish that dissenting opinions would simply vanish. This is America though and we have the 1st Amendment as our defense. The Constitution will be enforced though, right? There is a growing tide of understanding, right now that there are two groups of people. Our southern border what’s left of it is allowing for modern slavery to a degree we have never seen before. In Carthage it was much the same way. It could also be said, though that there are 3 classes the slaves, plebeians and the patricians.

Cyprian was a Bishop and a Solicitor which had enforced the bearing of a leader in this Roman man. This is also a reason for his ability to transform into a leader of the Christian movement. Imagine grappling with the idea of serving what was thought of as scum. Or in reverse serving an arrogant senator? Yet it said in the parchment that Cyprian spent quite a few shekels on, that Christ served the poor and downtrodden. A man who spends his money trying to create his early version of a Bible in the 3rd Century is a man who knows the amazing power of words in these difficult to find pieces of divine scripture. He had the comprehension that doing as Christ did, as he saw Caecilianus do, his mentor, was what he needed to be doing.

Somehow this intellectual man or the group of Christians found through desperation that a hospital, a means of grouping and isolating the sick was necessary. The book as I have genuinely enjoyed does not equate reality; a 21st Century woman or two women did not fall through a portal to deliver this idea to him. So how did he get it… we will simply have to believe a divine message. He did have dreams while he was in exile in Curubis. That seems fairly logical, but not everything is logical, is it?

How could these have saved lives if they had this equipment? Having dealt with a lot of blood last year these shields were lifesavers? However, some staff still either forgot to wear them or just decided not to. I got blasted a couple of times though, and it does pay to wear them.

When I worked at a Nursing Home I had to wear the N95 Masks. Each day I went home with a migraine. We were also supposed to hold on to those as long as we could. I hardly got past the first day, but I did make it to two days a few times.

A hospital in the 3rd Century. The beauty of this idea is that it is being implemented by the very people the Carthage Proconsul wants to clear out of his city. The Christians knew they had to show a fierce determination to help those who hated them. How best can they show God was working through them, as they nursed the people back to health, even so they could go right back to pursuing them once they recovered?

During our Covid Debacle mandates were enforced, in Carthage it was the Christians trying to isolate the sick from the unsick that wanted mandates enforced. The Proconsul and the Senate wanted nothing to do with the Christians and their funny ways so these ideas of stopping travel into Carthage were not enforced. The edict that was enforced was to torture the Christians, the only ones attempting to assuage the epidemic. The edict ordered the people to stop burying their dead in the cemeteries. Aspasius Paternus, decided while as long as he was alive to torment this group of people so he could make examples of them. Of course, there were ways around that, urns were filled and still taken to the burial grounds.

Gloves and gowns also are a necessity. I can tell you I had to change my gown at least 5 times in one day. Sometimes things happen, although we were told to hold on to the gowns as long as we could.

The world is so fickle. Life seems to only mean something to someone has a purpose, a religion they hold to, throughout their lives. The Christians in particular believe life is sacred. Why is this idea so hard to grasp? The Proconsul did everything he could to prolong his one year service into two decades of holding that seat. Power over others is what he craved, especially with his slaves, as one could surmise he had a horrible demeanor towards his female slaves.

One slave after being ravaged by him became pregnant with a child. He of course left her for dead, it took her a long time to have the child and heal from the traumatic experience. The child was born with Down Syndrome, his first reaction to leave the child in the elements. She was a 21st Century woman though, Lisbeth’s mother in the story and a doctor. The woman she was on top of being a doctor would not leave her child like that. Unfortunately, Apasius could absolutely do so due to Roman law, her refusal to comply would seal her death certificate so it became a secret among the slave women.

Could you be brave enough to do such a thing, when people seem to think abortion is a privilege instead of an absolutely last resort if an option at all. Life was so precious to this slave who was actually a woman born in the Mediterranean area. Lisbeth’s father was an American archaeologist. This is why I love this series, the complexities and layers brought together in a complementary way.

We take health care for granted in a way. It is supposed to heal and save babies in the worst of pregnancy conditions. The 3rd Century in comparison to our 21st Century world had more focus on saving life with nary the equipment to use to simply save a life. In doing so they showed God’s grace to those who need it.

What could we learn if we just delve into our history books a little more. The question from the Word Press prompt today was right up this alley. “What do you remember about life before the internet?” Something similar to that, it’s an intriguing idea right? Yet it also shows how far we have come from those Centuries before us. They didn’t have the nuisances of technology and yet look at what they accomplished like the pyramids, Great Wall of China, even Stonehenge. I have heard academia minds say these feats couldn’t be replicated even with our technology. I would even throw in, the Ark that Noah and his sons made. Nearly every civilization has a flood story. I wonder how that could be if it was a simple fable.

How amazing is it to lunge into analyzing American History against World History? How did we move the reality of culture from then to now? Or did we?