Dear Blog,
At the entrance to the Kremlin there were two men dressed in period costume, one as Lenin and one as Nicholas II. They did an excellent job of both looking and playing the part. (There are a lot of these people here in costume at all the tourist attratctions.) So I paid the 200 Rubles (about eight dollars) to sit with them for a photograph.
Two totalitarians. A king who failed to protect his people, and viewed the country as his private banking system. A communist who killed him and drove his nation into poverty and starvation (albiet industrializing it in the process) and the capitalst (me) who would have us return to having kings, but would be the enemy of both of them..
Of course, I view this photo as sybolic, and personally fascinating. I see myself as a symbol of why the others failed. That the Anglo model of capitalism succeeded. So while my arms are around them in an embrace, I actually see my ideology standing on their graves, thrilled that those like me have conquered them. Those who know me in business do not really understand the importance of these things to me. I have become a philosopher first, and everything else second. Perhaps I just have expanded the population I desire to effect with my entrepreneurship.
I plan to frame it and put it at the cabin. There are many hunting trophies that one can hang in one's house. Some are family pictures. Some are business accomplishments. Some are artistic achievements. Some trophies we make or catch ourselves. And for some, we are minor participants, like luggage carriers on the hunt, or pamphleteers, or cooks in a war. And some, are simply hiers to the achievements of others, and hang the trophies as homage, like old swords or flags, to those who did the hard work, that made possible our standards of living, our values and our ideas. And while I can only claim to be an heir, not a participant, I still hope that if I have time in the next decade to become one worthy of memory.
Curt
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