“Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”
Finds from the Staffordshire Hoard, Anglo-Saxon, c. seventh century (Source).
Click through the photo for an enlarged and wonderfully detailed image.
history meme | five assassinations: the romanov family, 1918
After Emperor Nicholas II’s abdication in early 1917, the Imperial family were put under house arrest at the Alexander Palace in Saint Petersburg. The family, along with their loyal servants, were sent from the former Imperial Russian capital to the far lands of Siberia in a town named Tobolsk and later Ekaterinburg in the Urals. In the summer of 1918, the city was threatened by the advancing Whites. The hasty decision was taken by the Bolsheviks to kill Nicholas, his family, and his servants. During the early hours in the morning of 17 July 1918, all of the prisoners was taken to the cellar room of the Ipatiev House where they were staying and then were informed of their fate moments before being mercilessly massacred. Even the innocent children, the youngest only 13, was not spared. The legend has it that the young grand duchesses had to be finished off with bayonets as they had stuffed jewels in their blouses which had deflected the bullets. The Church of All Saints in Ekaterinburg were built on the site of the assassination.
Oh, Cesare,’ she laughs in delight, reaching over and taking his hand, ‘I hope my husband is as fine and handsome as you.’
‘Such a thing would be impossible.’ He flips her hand over in his, spreading her fingers out to expose her palm. ‘See? It is written here. “Not as handsome as your brother”.’ (X)
I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.
