" Greatness dies, unsung and lost, invisible to history..."

[nuraicha]

My name's Irene and today I have witnesed history happening in front of my eyes. Today, after 39 years of kingship, Juan Carlos, king of Spain, has abdicated in his son, Felipe (future Felipe VI of Spain).

To be honest, I don't know how I feel about these news. I don't like politics at all, and monarchy is just another kind of politics to me. I never liked Juan Carlos much, but Felipe gives me some sense of fondness. However, I don't like the royal family in general, because of all the scandals they are involved with (especially Juan Carlos and the princesses, to be fair Felipe hasn't done anything wrong, yet), even if I kind of like the Queen, Sofía, mostly because she looks like a good woman who has had to stand a lot of shit (and she studied archaeology).

As I'm writing this, there are people all around the country in demonstrations of protest, because they want to have a referendum to vote against monarchy and in favour of a republic. This is relevant because Spain has been a republic only twice in its history: the first one in the 19th century only lasted a year and, if I'm not wrong, had more than 5 presidents; the second one lasted from 1931 to 1936 and it had good points (universal suffrage) and bad points (violence against many things). Many people believes that, if we had a republic, it would be a left wing republic, which means tons of other people (from the right wing) are completely against the idea.

Myself, I don't care. I don't think a change of king or representative system (the king doesn't do another thing that being the represent of our country, and if we had a republic I suppose we would change to have a Prime Minister and a President who did that task, as in Italy) would do any good to Spain nowadays, because the main problem is the corruption and that needs way more than a new face on top. Still, I think it'd be a good idea to have a referendum pro-republic if people want it, because hey, that's democracy, isn't it?

Anyway, what I wanted to talk about was about my pride of being alive at this time. So many stuff has happened, in Spain and in the rest of the world, at the time I'm living. Stuff that will appear in History books of the future. I've seen many wars, many protests, many acts of terrorism, many falls, many risings. You can never know what will be written in posterity, but I'm sure that stuff like Obama, the Arabic Spring or Felipe VI of Spain (okay, Philip VI for you, anglospeakers) will feature. And, as a person who is in love with history and will dedicate her life to search and fight for it, I'm inmensily happy I'm alive at this time.

In times like this, I can't help but loving what I do and being jealous of what the future 'me's of the future will dig. I bet we will be called the 'Phone Civilisation' or something like that, though. It's a pity that I don't want to be buried, but if I reconsider it, I'll totally leave in my grave something for the future archaeologists to be able to identify my body and the period. Or I might get naughty and just bury myself with some scarabeums to make them crazy!


PS: BTW, guess who got a 10 in Archaeometry II exam!!!!!! YES, ME!!!!!! \o/ So this makes an average of 7 so... FIRST SUBJECT PASSED! ONLY 4 TO GO!!! \o/

Comments

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

You should totally do a huge historyfuck thing and be buried with all kinds of artifacts that made dating your body impossible:) And have a huge fuck-off ancient Egyptian mausoleum built.

I don't know where you get the thing about women's suffrage, though. Spain seems to have been one of the crappiest countries for it in Europe. If it was just a couple of posh women or unmarried or married somewhere being able to vote, that's massively different from universal suffrage. (Which, BTW, we got in 1906, the first in Europe, and we also got the first female parliamentarians in the world, which is why I'm picky about this.) There's a good timeline for it here. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women%27s_suffrage)

But, yeah, historical dates like that are always a bit... stunning, when you feel like there's some epic stuff going on. I get the feeling that we'll probably be known as the Internet Age as that has to rank right up there with fire, the wheel and the stirrup in the list of human inventions. I still find it weird to believe that there are so many people now who have grown up with mobile phones and the internet always having been there, which probably shows you what an old fogey I am. Time goes by really fast, doesn't it?

[nuraicha.livejournal.com]

The problem is that I have never exactly liked the idea of burying for myself! For instance, my grandma's ashes were spread in a mountain of her natal city (Granada, I might have moor's blood in me!), so I have always liked that idea, more than the typical tomb in a cemetery. But if I don't bury myself I won't help my colleagues when they are doing their job, so it's tricky! Anyway, I won't help them either because I am so going to joke with their minds! ;)

Oh my god, this is really embarrassing! I must have heard it for uninformed people or in comparisition to other countries (we tend to do that, the whole 'omg we're better because we did X before Y, W and Z', but they omit other data). Reading this, I'm punching myself for forgetting about some Sweden women voting in the 18th century!! I wrote that in my Fucking Modern Paper last year! But yeah, the universal suffrage for women (and in general) came with the Second Republic and lasted until the Civil War; the next time all women could vote was in 1978 with the Constitution. Thanks for the correction!

Yeah, I bet as well for the Internet Age. One of my teachers made us reflect about what would survive if the class collapsed at the exact moment and after some centuries, and we came to the conclusion than the only stuff we would have in common would be phones, laptops and... pens! (especially BIC, almost everybody has at least one BIC); obviously, if they compared us to other people of other sites, I bet the most common objects would be phones and laptops (so they could classify us as a subculture or infer we were from a different social class or something). I remember when I was a child in the 90's and the computers started to be more common, it was like a revolution to us! Everytime some child at class (well, their parents) got a computer was like a sign of social ascense. Nowadays though it's the most common thing in the world and that makes me reflect how the human kind will change because of it.

[dominic-james.livejournal.com]

Aw I saw that all on the news only yesterday!! It was like spamming our telly in The Netherlands haha , Queen Beatrix left her throne for good here ha ha but nothing changed :')
At least Queen Lizzy is still ruling..!

And BAM! See ?! You'll pass those bloody exams, I'm sure!! *hug*

[nuraicha.livejournal.com]

Well, if it was spamming there, imagine here! I'm fed up with all the news, he's everywhere!

When Queen Beatrix left the throne many here asked for the Juan Carlos' abdication, because of his health problems and all the scandals he has been involved with last years. But most people didn't think he would do it, because, as I said, isn't a common thing here like in other countries.

Lizzy is a Time Lady, she will never leave the throne AHAHAHAHA

Thank you, Dominic! I hope so! *hugs*

[dominic-james.livejournal.com]

You better keep me updated :P

[mercury973.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting about it It's got little to no coverage in the US and I was curious with what has been going on.

[nuraicha.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I have heard of some newspapers talking about it but not much. I can't blame them, I don't think it's that relevant in the international sphere.

[festive-tights.livejournal.com]

This was so cool to read because so many people talk about how they hate this time period and wish they lived a different one, and while there are a lot of problems in the world today, I agree with you that we have seen some amazing things!

Also, congrats on your exam, bb! Stay awesome :)

[nuraicha.livejournal.com]

Oh, even if we were in a period as horrible as the 2nd WW I think I'd have liked to live it! Every minute we're on this planet we're experiencing and witnessing something that will never be repeated the same way it happened that time. We have to enjoy everything that we can see, even if they are bad times! Something better will come after, and something worse will come after that. History repeats itself, we like it or not (and believe me, I have studied enough of it these past years to see it proved in every corner of the world).

Thank you, bb! How went yours? <3

[amusedinred]

As a History graduate, I loved reading this post <3 I share your excitement about history. And I'm also a bit blah about politics as well.

Well done on your exam <333 That's fantastic.

Keep loving being alive, bb! For all the bad stuff that happens, there's so many amazing things.

[nuraicha.livejournal.com]

I am so happy to know about other fellow 'historian' (historians would kill me if they heard me calling myself that) that feels the same way as me! I love living at this time and I am so looking forward to seeing the crowning day.

I agree with that! All the good luck for you, Jess! I hope your future will end being so much better than expected and I am here for anything :3

[space-black-out.livejournal.com]

I love history, I sneak in as much of it into the classroom as I can, even the parts not on the curriculum because I think it's so important!
YAY!! Congrats on your exam mark, that's fantastic! :)

[nuraicha.livejournal.com]

I loved to hear this!! History is so important and I will never stop saying this, so I am happy teachers like you still sneak it into the curriculum because kids need to know this stuff.

And thank you <3

[tamar elmensdorp-lijzenga (from livejournal.com)]

We had a change of queen too in 2013. For the first time in many years we have a king again. I guess I am pro monarchy though. I think a chosen president is more like a popularity contest than anything else. And it might even increase corruption. Here people arr complaining about the costs of a monarchy, personally I think a republic is just as expensive.

Btw, I love how passionate you are about archeology. I hope that one day you'll be working on an extremely exciting excavation :).

[tamar elmensdorp-lijzenga (from livejournal.com)]

Hm, i don't know why that last part was crossed out. Slip of yhe finger I guess.

[nuraicha.livejournal.com]

I remember that. Is the one married to an Argentinian, right? I can't remember his name for the life of me though, sorry!

I'm pro-republic though. I think (and know, because I'm living it) corruption is everywhere, no matter what kind of goverment you have, because what matters is how the politicians are and their morals. Sadly, politics on itself is like a contest, whether is for a Prime Minister, a President or whatever you call it. And everything depends on how you spend your money, because you can give millions to the royal family, but also to the president of a republic, is just a matter of education, tradition and etics. Look at Italy, they are a republic deeply corrupted, while France on the contrary is way cleaner. And British monarchy is more appreciated and "neat" than Spanish one, who has several cases of corruption going on inside. At the end of the day, everything comes back to the people who are holding the power, in my opinion.

Aaawww thank you! Archaeology is my passion and literally the only thing I can see myself doing and enjoying. I know I'll be 70 and still want to get dirty!