February 16th, 2024

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Regret, Resentment, Pride or Nostalgia?            
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It is interesting what kind of bizarre thoughts come in to one’s mind. Such filtered through my mind, reeling through scores of years ago, the way a random kite is sometimes seen in the sky, as I watched the coronation of Charles 111. Thoughts about other countries who had deposed of their own monarchies might feel or think. Regret?   Resentment?   Or nostalgia. Whatever!  The ceremony birthed a fable told in black communities about the dog and his mother. This is my embellished version from my creative pot.
A long time ago, there was a very severe famine in the land of the animals. They decided to have a meeting to find a solution to the food scarcity. Leaving their mothers to look after their families, they gathered in a big open space pondering for hours without a solution. Then the tortoise came up with the solution… All the animals hastened back home to carry out the tortoise’s ‘brilliant’ plan but the dog thought differently. So he went home and prayed to God about his predicament. God heard his prayer and gave him a solution. The dog took his mother to a designated spot. A basket was let down from the sky, on a rope.
The dog received some food from the basket and his mother was taken up to the sky.  After all the animals had killed and eaten their mothers, the famine ceased and the dog’s mother returned to be reunited with her family!
 
 I can imagine the regret, pain, guilt and anger those animals felt when the famine was over because they had killed their mothers! I know how I feel when I think of my diaries ranging from 1968 to 1988 which I burned because I thought I had shared too much ‘intimate’ information in them. Do you also have regret for writings you have destroyed or do you have thoughts from long ago that fleet through your memory? It’s never too late to recapture the past in our writings. We all know the story of how Israel moaned to God about wanting to be like other nations who had kings ruling them. God told Israel the disadvantages of a monarchy through Prophet Samuel but they insisted on their wish. How did Israel feel about the monarchy under the reigns of the likes of King Ahab, Rehoboam, etc? Israel did not want God to rule over them any longer!!! Let us like the dog always turn to God in our challenges of life.
 The scripture says, ‘He will take your best fields and vineyards… He will take a tenth of your corn… When that time comes, you will complain bitterly… but the Lord will not listen to your complaints.’ 1 Samuel 8: 14 -18
So it was not surprising to see some people protesting against the UK’s monarchy -   Fodder for historical fiction writers amongst us! I pray that God’s will for the UK continues and  that Christian writers of whatever genre will continue to be inspired on Earth as it is in Heaven. AMEN.
 
 #fable #historical fiction #ACW #monarchy #amwriting #kingCharles111 #Coronation #memories #inspiration
 
 
 
 
 
Sophia Anyanwu lives in SE London. She’s an educationist, encourager reviewer, author and poet.   She is a member of the Association of Christian Writers, UK and has published 14 books which are available on her website: www.olusolasophiaanyanwuauthor.com and Amazon.  You can subscribe to her YouTube channel here: https://bit.ly/3j0oPuy and follow her on all social media here: https://bit.ly/3UG36Kx