
Perhaps the primary message that the writer Johnathan Safran Foer, incidently also the name of one of the main characters, was trying to get across to the viewers, was that the past does not exist for us to find out about. But that we exist because of the past.
I find this concept interesting because we have been exploring the birth of modern civilization in a communications / canadian studies class, and I find that, truly, Everything Is Illuminated by the past.
I mean, if one were to begin to think about the past, or study it for that matter, you would find that the reason why some months have 31 days while February has only 28, is because the officials who were deciding the number of days, borrowed them from February, and gave them to July and August (Julius & Augustus Ceaser). Both were important people so they get more days in the months named after them. Also, the smallest whole number in the Sumerian system of numbers was 60, that could be divided without producing fractions. Voila! 60 mins in every hour and 60 seconds in every minute... strange ain't it?
Apparently, before the Thesaurus Temporum, various different histories of different civilizations were considered to be seperate and on different timelines. Joseph Justus Scaliger's De emendatione temporum [on the correction of chronology] (1583) surveyed all the ways then known of measuring time, and placed the study of ancient calendars and dates on a scientific basis. He discovered and restored the content of the lost original of the second book of Eusebius' chronicle. The chronological foundation for the modern study of ancient history was summed up in his Thesaurus temporum [repertory of dates] (1606).
Don't you find that the past illuminates the present. This can also be seen clearly in our personal lives... I would take a minute to reflect on it. You can really see how God is working.
In other news, Jeru is sick. Viral infection. I feel so sorry for her, she seems to be in so much pain and sometimes, i just feel helpless. Doctors here don't give anti-biotics. Instead they just say to wait it out. I mean, it is good and it is bad. But while you're in it, it sucks... I think i'm gonna come down with it soon too if I don't get some rest...
I hope things are working out well for the people in Singapore, and elsewhere in Canada (Kingston) as well as in my neigbourhood! Babies are coming due! I need to find out some news!
Damn it's 12:30 am already...
Take it easy.
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