There was another family fight today.. Sometimes i feel stuck because I always seem to be the mediator but the problem never seems to go away. I feel so angry and frustrated because i don’t know what to do. I can’t take the loud yelling and sometimes i lose it too.
I’m emotionally and physically tired and i know my mom is too.. mary needs to stop being so selfish and start reflecting on her faults. I just can’t do it anymore.. I’m tired of constantly telling mary what her responsibilities are and what her role should be as a sister and daughter.
I thought if i tried to understand my mother and my sister I would be able to identify the problem and we can all address it but I feel so alone trying to make that happen. Its very upsetting.
I also have these moments when i become so angry that i lose sight of what is happening and allow my emotions to take over. I say things i don’t mean and turn violent. I hate it so much because whenever these arguments happen it brings the ugly side out of me. It’s not who I am.. but why do they keep turning me into that type of person?
What is right? Is it right because God said so or did God say so because its right? If there was no God, would there still be right and wrong? Is it more important to be right or kind? The definition of the word right in dictionary.com is that which is morally correct, just or honorable. God is right, because he is perfect; therefore what he says is right. If there was no God, there would be no right. God is our answer to everything we depend on him in order to be right, or try to be. The ten commandants for example is the law that God tells us to follow, but we cannot do so without depending on him. We cannot do anything by ourselves. Because he is in us we have a moral yearning to be good and follow his righteousness. “Is it more important to be right or kind?” I found this question a bit challenging to answer. In my previous answer as to what is right, I said God is right and I thought to myself, I cannot disagree that it is important being right, but if this makes sense, being kind is an act of right. This is because God is kind and he is right. Which means being kind is a form of being right. That is the only satisfying answer that I can come up with at the moment.
A day filled with different activities. Going to call it a night since i am exhausted.
These are long overdue. I still wanted to upload them because we celebrated my belated birthday at an Italian restaurant with my family after I came back from Italy. More yummy Italian food for me!
“For her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her; but converse with her had an irresistible charm, and her presence, combined with the persuasiveness of her discourse and the character which was somehow diffused about her behaviour towards others, had something stimulating about it. There was sweetness also in the tones of her voice; and her tongue, like an instrument of many strings, she could readily turn to whatever language she pleased…”
Plutarch, Life of Antony (XXVII)
This is quoted by Plutarch in his work Parallel Lives, as having been said by Marc Antony. In this quote we are given a description of a woman who is claimed to be irresistible, charming and sweet. However, others disagree as some described her as an “Egyptian whore.” Now you must be wondering, who is this mysterious woman that these people speak of? This extraordinary woman of her time was named Cleopatra.
Cleopatra was born in 69 BC in Alexandria, Egypt. She came to power at the age of 17 and reigned from 51-30 B.C. As a Ptolemy, Cleopatra was not Egyptian, but Macedonian. Despite having Macedonian ancestry she was still an Egyptian queen and worshipped as a God. In 49 B.C., Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII who is also Cleopatra’s brother and husband drove her from the palace of Alexandria after she attempted to make herself the sole ruler.
In order to regain power from her brother-spouse Ptolemy XIII, who had sent her into exile, Cleopatra needed Roman support. It begins here where the choices she made helped shape world history.
Later that year, Julius Caesar came to Alexandria to ensure that Egypt would remain loyal to Rome despite the local power struggles at the time. Cleopatra used this opportunity to seduce him and capitalize his position to restore her power in ruling Egypt. As the two begin to fall in love, Julius Caesar got rid of all Cleopatra’s rivals, including her brother.
While Julius Caesar stayed in Egypt, away from his throne in Rome, turmoil erupted through the Roman Empire. In 44 B.C. Julius was murdered and succeeded by other rulers such as Marc Antony. Cleopatra is once again left powerless without the support of her lover. Burning with ambition to stay queen of Egypt, Cleopatra uses the art of seduction to lure the powerful man Marc Antony.
Like many of Cleopatra’s victims, Antony felt a mixed of emotions. He was soon spellbound and became her slave, granting her immense powers, adopting Egyptian customs and renouncing the ways of Rome. The power that Cleopatra held was lost after Marc Antony was defeated in battle by Octavian.
With her second lover dead, Cleopatra took her own life and died on August 12, 30 BC at the age of 39. The last Ptolemy ruler was Cleopatra. The ruling of Egypt was finally passed to the Romans.
Cleopatra’s personal goal was to preserve her power as queen and maintain Egypt’s independence from the rapidly expanding Roman Empire. By seducing the two most powerful men at the time, Cleopatra succeeded from making Egypt vassal to Rome for more than twenty years.
In the city that Cleopatra ruled there are few signs of her presence. This discovery of her image on a coin gives historian an idea of how she looked like. Examining this coin, one may disagree that she is not strikingly beautiful despite all the myths and legend being told. Which brings us to the question, what kind of possessive power did this woman have on others?
As we continue to analyze this coin we have the head of a sovereign so we know that Cleopatra was indeed the ruler of Egypt. But the Egyptians did not use coins, but barter. Clearly these coins are not meant to be used and seen by Egyptians, but people outside of Egypt. Cleopatra used this method to show others not how she looked like but rather how she liked to be seen.
In this coin Cleopatra portrays herself as a classic Greek, recalling her ancestral connection to Alexander the Great. But on the temple walls of Alexandria she is pure Egyptian.
Cleopatra’s ancestry was complex so she presented herself in different ways to different people.
I watched this movie sometime last week and it is definitely added into my favourite movie’s collection. I loved the history in it, as well as the actors that portrayed this true story. A must watch if you like history with a bit of romance and politics.
