Sunday, November 22, 2009

Blogging is a sort of study... sort of...

I have tried studying today. It’s not really something that comes very naturally to me. I’d much rather bake peppernuts, and talk about Thanksgiving and rationalize that there is far too much pounding from the deck building happening directly outside my room for me to concentrate. Apparently that is not completely true, no matter how much I want to believe it.

So I sat down and started reading through one of my history-help books. I got stuck on the third page when it was talking about Elizabeth’s reign. Many historians consider her reign from 1558-1603 to be characterized by her lack of decisions, rather than strong, confident leadership in the bad situations she encountered. On the surface, I would have to agree that it certainly looks that way. For Pete’s sake, Mary of Scots was a prisoner in her England for eighteen years. It was a tough situation, but it seems like Elizabeth’s answer was to simply not do anything - not return Mary to her throne, not kill her, not bring her to court, not marry her off. However, I can’t help but think that some of this indecision led to an end solution.

I especially have this notion with her decision not to marry or name an heir. Not knowing what to do, as it was an increasingly hard decision to make, Eliz. simply decided not to do anything. If she was unsure, she didn’t move forward. As a result, when a solution was demanded of her, she turned her seeming indecision into a confident, non-negotiable decision. When Parliament demanded that she chose I husband, she declared that she had — that she was married to England, as the Virgin Queen. She commissioned paintings to be done of her that reflected her in this supreme way.

However, her rule was not completely done this way. The decisions that had to be made that were less personal to her (in the way that they might not DIRECTLY influence her in the way that marriage or murder of a Queen would) where always made with great confidence. There were very astute laws that she passed, such as the Poor Laws of 1601 and at the very beginning of her reign she drew up a Religious Settlement that defines England even until today.

In looking at this history, I am finding a lot of myself. At the moment, we are selling our house in preparation for my parents moving down to Tauranga. I am currently actively looking for a job and a place to live, as I really want to stay in Auckland. However, if I can’t find the resources to stay, I will have to go down South with my ‘rents. I am giving it a lot of thought and some prayer. This is a big decision for me, one that will define the next part of my life. The answer is important. My indecision may lead to a decision I don’t want to make. I can’t help but wonder if this is how Elizabeth felt too.

1 comment:

Sam. said...

? I'm not Chinese. Not even slightly. Not even by association.