Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Tonight's picture was taken on August 20, 2009. This was what our living room looked like almost a year into Mattie's treatment. There were THINGS everywhere. I literally couldn't keep up with the amount of gifts coming into our home. All of which we were grateful to receive, but we had no energy to organize and process the items. In this photo, you will see Mattie and Peter holding up a 747 Lego airplane. A plane they built together! These large Lego kits occupied Mattie for hours and kept us all working together, which Mattie wanted, without dialogue. Mattie found comfort in our undivided attention, and Legos provided the perfect outlet for all of us. 




Quote of the day: The great use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it. ~ William James

We went to see an exhibit entitled, "Genghis Khan." This exhibit will be rolling out of LA on August 19th, so we wanted to see it while it was here. 

What do pants, the pony express, cannons, paper money, skis, violins, bakhlava and “hooray!” have in common? Answer: Genghis Khan introduced them all to the West. Not Genghis the brutal barbarian of Western history books, but Genghis the great civilizer and lawmaker, whose empire brought each of these innovations to the west, including 13th Century Mongolian-style democracy.

Named "The Man of the Millennium" by TIME Magazine and CNN, Genghis’s reputation as the greatest conqueror is well-deserved – he dominated three times more land in his lifetime than either Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great, a conquest attested to by the formidable array of swords, bows, arrows, saddles and armor included on display in Genghis Khan. In fact, the historic exhibition showcases hundreds of artifacts from Genghis’s 13th century Empire, the largest such collection ever to tour.

Genghis not only created the nation of Mongolia and its written language, but his lineage established the modern borders of nations from India to Iran, Korea to China as well as opened the trade routes that united East and West forever.

The Mongolian Empire stretched from present day China to Turkey, and from Russia to Pakistan. 

The exhibit tried to give the viewer a more balanced view of Genghis Khan.... as illustrated in this STATESMAN placard, which said:

There is another side to Genghis Khan - that of gifted, innovative leader who brought stability and unity to his people. Although he ruled with an iron fist, he rewarded loyalty and merit, established the rule of law, and opened trade and exchange across Asia. Mongolians today still revere Genghis Khan as the spirit of their nation. 

The exhibit highlighted some great quotes by Genghis Khan. Quotes that highlighted the man behind the name....

I am the wrath of God. If you had not displeased him, he would not have sent me to destroy you. 

If you wish to have friends..... allow them to feel their importance. 

Genghis Khan's father was murdered when he was 8 years old. The tribe abandoned Khan's mom and all her children. So at an early age, Khan learned the art of survival and living a nomadic life. 

These spear like structures, with hair coming off of them, were featured through out the exhibit. They are called Sulde, or spirit banners. They symbolize rank and serve as guardians. They are made out of horse or yak hair tied to a spear. 

This medal medallion served as a passport. One such as this was given to Marco Polo. This enabled a person to freely traverse the Mongolian empire without question. Here is what was written on this passport....

I am the emissary of the Khan. If you defy me, you die.  

Mongolians were considered nomads. In fact, a third of their current population still falls in this category. 

They lived in yurts, felt lined wood framed tents with peaked roofs. Bathing was infrequent, and washing clothes even more rare. A Mongol might wear one shirt continuously until it disintegrated. 13th Century nomads consumed not only their livestock and dairy products but also the wild animals they hunted. In times of near starvation, Mongols would drink the blood of their horses and eat their own body lice. 

A example of a yurt. Keep in mind that half of the yurt was occupied by the male figure head of the family. Then the other half of the yurt was for the women, children, elderly, and favorite animals. 

Within the exhibit, we heard traditional Mongolian music and got to observe  
different traditional dances. 

My mom and I took a selfie in this room that was a recreation of Karakorum, the walled city, which became the capital of the Mongolian Empire after Genghis Khan’s son inherited the kingdom. 

The role of women went beyond home and child care. It also included milking the animals, to produce the family's butter, cheese and yogurt. Women contributed to the Mongols' military success. After each battle, they collected arrows and finished off wounded enemy soldiers. 

Without horses there would have been NO Mongol empire. The Mongol cavalry was one of Genghis Khan's greatest advantages. The horses' speed and maneuverability gave his army the upper hand over much larger armies of foot soldiers, who could march only a few miles a day. On horseback, the Mongol army could cover as much as 100 miles a day. 

 Typical male attire. 

 Typical female attire. 

Genghis created the nation of Mongolia's written language. To the untrained viewer, the words look characters and not letters that are read from up to down. 

This is replica of the Chinese palace of Xanadu, the center of the Empire of Genghis’s grandson, Kublai, who united China for the first time.

There were several placards highlighting Khan's strategies. This one was a list that says ten ways to conquer a walled city. 

One of the items on this list says.... Fill moats with dead bodies from previous conquests. 

Khan also generated a Yasa, or laws that regulated his empire. Some of these caught my attention such as:

No taxes or duties should be imposed upon lawyers, physicians, scholars, and people who devote themselves to prayer and asceticism. 

or

Whoever takes goods (on credit) and becomes bankrupt, then again takes goods and again becomes bankrupt, then takes goods again and yet again become bankrupt, is to be put to death after the third time. 


Though the exhibit was marketed as showing us the Statesman behind Khan, I would say it provided very little evidence of this. Instead it highlighted the savage nature of his army, his philosophies, his conquests and desire to claim territories so that Mongolians could led a peaceful life (a rather ironic statement).