Isidors in Other Times & Places

December 24th is special!

During the evening on December 24th children listen for the rustling of paper, the cutting of ribbons, the ringing of small bells, all secretly done behind closed doors until parents open the door and show everyone the wonder of festive decorations and the many shiny lights to create great peace and great joy.

As for the pageant and the play, it was about the winter celebration during the "Holy Days of Lights" (called Hannukha in Judaism) when over 2000 years ago a donkey brought a young Jewish mommy to Bethlehem, where she gave birth to her little boy under the sign of a bright star.

This boy became very famous with his teachings of, ‘forgive your enemies' and ‘treat your neighbor as you would like to be treated'... that ever since then, the whole world is trying to be caring, kind and peaceful.

As he was thirty-three years later, that same young man rode a donkey through the Eastern (Golden) gate into Jerusalem for yet another Holy-day - a dinner celebration called Passover and the seder dinner which became his last supper before he went on to meet his destiny.

IMAGINE if those two donkeys had known what was to come of the important part they played in history!!! What do you think those donkeys were called?
Do you think they were cousins to Isidor?

Over the years, this idea of effecting peaceful change for millions of people with individual kindness and forgiveness was adapted into the concept of ‘Peaceful Resistance.'

Nearly 2000 years later, Mahatma Ghandi in India and Dr. Martin Luther King in the United States of America, both used those teachings of "peaceful resistance" to gain self determination in Government with the right to vote in their country for all the people. They struggled to win the support of all people in their own country and eventually they did succeed. They also met their destiny in a sad way, but maybe that is why we will remember them for years to come.

Both men and their ideas succeeded and made the world a better place for all.
Good for them! You can read more about Mahatma Gandhi here.

Imagine Peace in donkey speach.. How do you say peace???  Read some interesting things about peace here.

One thing is for certain even long ago all donkeys understood each other, perfectly all sounding off saying loudly Hew-Haw...Hew-Haw...Hew-Haw..!

I wonder, if we understood them better, could we learn from them how to live in peace, harmoney, all respecting each other and never go to war, never again?

http://un.org/   UN for kids

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en.html

Ah, and now allow me, to tell you that Isidor the story was written on a computer with many connections found there to have you learn as you go along reading about Isidor, and I hope you will have enjoyed the time you spoent thinking of donkeys and their influence on all our lives.

And just maybe it will soon come to pass that the Pope in Italy will proclaim a man named Isidor as Patron Saint of computers and the internet.

In the year 560 (1500 years ago) that Isidor of Seville was born in Spain where he lived all his life while he diligently sorted out all sort of stories, facts and figures, and made a big listing (index) so that others could find them again, sort of like Google is doing today on the internet. He took stories from all over the (known) world then in all sorts of langages and made the list in such a way that all people could sort through the information and learn from it.

So, how does Saint Isidore of Seville become the patron saint for the Internet? The Observation Service for Internet, who drew its mission from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, researched the Internet and related technologies to select a patron saint that best reflects the concerns and ideals of computer designers, programmers and users. The saint chosen by the Observation Service for Internet was Saint Isidore. "The saint who wrote the well-known 'Etymologies' (a type of dictionary), gave his work a structure akin to that of the database. He began a system of thought known today as 'flashes;' it is very modern, notwithstanding the fact it was discovered in the sixth century. Saint Isidore accomplished his work with great coherence: it is complete and its features are complementary in themselves.

Neat don’t you think??!! Especially when you remember that they did not have computers then.... how did he do it?

Interesting don't you think?

And someday ask your computer teacher why some people were afraid that all computers would crash on January 1. 2000 and why they feared that many clocks would stop working on the first day of the new millennium. Is it the 2nd or 3rd? Make sure you know and never forget it.

But for now, maybe YOU write the next story on a computer? And when you are finished please send it by way of e-mail to info@isidorpublishing.com and see what will happen. Visit this site over and over to see what might have happened in the time since you first read about Isidor the donkey, and the part donkeys play in your life every day.