Omnia Vincit Amor!

How can one make them self sufficiently holy to participate in a Holy war?!

The question perplexed me as I heard it echo through the cold, silent auditorium. How is it even possible? Can a person ever be Holy enough to take the lives of other human beings? I thought the choice of life or death was meant to be only up to God?

Professor William Chester Gordon attempted to answer this question in his lecture Crusader Prologues: Preparing for War in the Gothic Age. He mentioned 6 specific tasks: confession, prayer, the blessing of weapons, the vesting of shields, the making and publishing of a will.

In the middle ages, confession was meant only to be done around Easter or when a person was on their deathbed. Taking confession before leaving for battle merely allowed the person to fight with some peace of mind. If they were to be killed in battle, they would be reassured their soul would enter the pearly gates of Heaven. In the last fifteen minutes while Professor Gordon took questions from the audience, a woman asked if the men requested forgiveness for the lives they were to take in battle. The response? No! This surprised me for a minute, but listening to the explanation, it made more sense. They honestly believed they were killing in the name of God and that those who died by their sword were meant to be killed. No forgiveness was needed.

The next step was to undo all the wrongs committed during their lifetimes. They had to improve relations with anyone they may have hurt over the years as well as return any money they may have earned unjustly. I can't imagine they actually were able to undo EVERY wrong, but I guess they must have made a pretty good effort...

Prayer was extremely important. They prayed for strength and protection from God and the saints. They even saw death and injury on the battle field as the saints method of testing those fighting. Prayers were done individually, but most were embedded in elaborate ceremonies.

The blessing of weapons was such a ceremony. Each individual celebrated the ceremony at the church with the most meaning to them. They picked the one they grew up in or wanted to be buried by or something of that sort. The blessing of arrows was supposed to be done on January 20th because that was the day of Saint Sebastian. He is said to have been shot by many arrows after being caught protecting and acting as a Christian during the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians. Seems like a strange day to pick, but I guess it works!

The vesting of the shield followed. They blessed each shield to protect both the body and soul of whoever may hold it. It was blessed in the name of the Holy Trinity.

The creation and publishing of a will was simply meant to be a way to hope for salvation and forgiveness.

(These last two seemed pretty rushed. Must have been a time constraint or something...)

A few other tid bits of information I found interesting were: some crusaders actually requested to be branded with a cross prior to battle... today tattooing is a far more common choice, crusaders did not have a "willingness for war" but rather a "hope for returning", most weapons were actually given holy names, Mary was seen as a protector who would watch over her "adopted sons" in battle, her figure was printed on flags carried out to war.

Peace; Now, Now, Now

The documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell was everything the front cover said it was; uplifting, disheartening, inspiring, enraging.

I was uplifted by the three women and their strength as they fought for what they believed in; peace.

I was disheartened to see the children who were forced to fight and kill their families as well as when I heard how one out of three people were displaced from their homes in Liberia.

I was inspired when the women forced the men in charge to go to the peace conference and refused to let them leave until an agreement was reached.

I was enraged to see the young men taking pride in every life they took as they fought for power.

Leaving the small theatre today, I was full of confusing thoughts. Everything I felt in that short hour and a half bubbled up inside me and became nearly overwhelming. In the first scene, we see an image of children, anywhere from 8-13 years old, holding guns. A short set of white words slowly fade onto the screen. The intensity set in after a moment; they said that these children, forced to join a war they didn't understand, were also forced to kill their mothers and fathers. I couldn't even imagine what horrific things these children saw or did but that alone was enough to send chills up my spine.

Only moments later they stated the fact that one out of three people were displaced. After a long conversation today about displacement and the negative connotations tied to the word, I realized the severity of the situation. In the conversation, events such as WWII with concentration camps and the Native American reservations in the early days of North American civilization were discussed. These are two events I know something about and when I recognized the connection, I was once again horrified.

However, for everything that disturbed me, there was something to once again rise my hopes. Every moment like that was brought on by the group of women fighting for peace. They showed strength, courage, and love while fighting the rising war groups. They never needed to use any means of violence. They held their signs, chanted, and sang. It was a true expression of power in numbers. While the men deliberated in the peace meeting, the women positioned themselves to block every exit. They refused to move until an agreement was made. It was actions like these that were brought on in a moments notice with support from many different people with different beliefs that brought peace to Liberia.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

(Check this out if you didn't get a chance to watch the documentary!)

I am NOT a feminist, but...

Today I heard Professor Susan Douglas' talk "Fantasies of Girl Power: How the Media Make Feminism Seem Unnecessary, and Sexism Fun?" My favorite of her many sentiments was her early description of how the media portrays feminists; a group of raging lesbians or insane woman who find sexism in every possible thing. Not to mention they have hairy legs and are hideously ugly. So therefore no woman in her right mind would EVER want to admit to be a f-word!! That explains why women today must always begin their feminist-sounding sentiments with "I am NOT a feminist, but..." It seems silly that the media has taken a very powerful movement and turned into a terrible idea held only by social outcasts. It seems everyone just wants to pretend we have reached full equality and will go on living without a care. The media certainly is giving us that idea! Professor Douglas touched on how television today portrays women in powerful, high-paying positions in rather important businesses. She also mentioned how this makes the media "ahead of its time" because we are not quite there yet seeing as women are still being paid around 50% less than men.

My favorite group Professor Douglas mentioned to be "feminist" was the Spice Girls. They promoted "Girl Power!" which was a toned down, secretive way of promoting further equality and feminist beliefs. The Spice Girls could teach young women that they should always be treated fairly by men and that they should not except inequality without being looked down upon. It was a rather ingenious plan that stretched over a few generations!!

As Professor Douglas continued, she showed us the downfalls in our society. She said that she wonders how Hooters is still in business or how all of those Spring Break shows are on television still if women have been making further leaps towards equality. I found this interesting, seeing the downfall in my own life in a way. I know I am one to watch trashy tv. I understand it is bad to portray women in this light, but come on, it is still entertaining! Especially after a long day of classes when your brain feels fried and you really just need a good pick-me-up. I am most definitely one of the girls she described, the ones who gather in groups to watch shows like My Super Sweet Sixteen simply to laugh and judge the girls who try to jump into the limelight, if even for an instant. So my question is... does this make me a bad person? Or a bad "female" per se? Am I not helping the feminist movement by watching these shows?

The reach for equality between men and women is something not very difficult to mentally grasp but so very difficult to physically grasp. Why? I have no clue. Seems simple enough, it isn't like women haven't proven themselves to be equal in almost every sense. So why are women paid less and why do women have lesser jobs? Will this ever change? It is pretty difficult to fathom a world different than the one we live in now, but I hope whole-heartedly that someday equality for all is reached so that we can all live "happily ever after"...