Deep Water, Wade In At Your Own Risk

I suppose, after my rather busy day yesterday, I needed this day of rest. Although I am in the midst of doing laundry, household chores are neverending, I haven't accomplished much. I just rewatched the sublime movie, Elizabeth, about the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. It begins before her ascension to the throne, when she was almost killed for heresy, being a Protestant Bastard Princess in a (under her sister Queen "Bloody" Mary) Catholic country until about a decade or so into her sixty-five year reign. It was the debut of Cate Blanchett, one of my most favourite actors. And what a debut, to play the Virgin Queen of England! She is luminous in the role, I think she was born to play this character. Her transformation from innocent pawn to Her Majesty the Queen is simply amazing. The movie is also notable for filming in the actual locations where the events took place but, the money shot is right at the end, when she is dressed in full regalia, as the bride of England, all in sumptuous white, dripping in pearls and diamonds. Breathtaking! Of all the monarchs of Britain, she stands as my personal favourite. When she took the throne, England was besieged on all sides with enemies and flat broke. When she died, it was the richest, most powerful Empire in the world. Not bad for a bastard sentenced to death by her crazy sister.
Gives you hope, in a way.
It also gives you pause. I have read a few biographies on her and of that period in time and it's astounding the amount of hatred and blood that was spilled in the name of God. The extreme lengths the Pope and his Cardinals and priests went to to eradicate, no, assassinate the Queen just because she was not Catholic and refused to accept his final authority over Her country. And that's not letting the Protestants off the hook, by no means, they weren't known for compassion when it came to torturing and killing anyone found practicing Catholicism in the privacy of their homes. It was a bloody time and religion seemed to play a big part in that bloodshed. It's a shame for two sides of the same religion, essentially, to take such measures against each other in the name of God, Jesus and Mary. It's shades seem to be in the ideological war we are waging now, between Christianity and Islam. Although, those beliefs seem to have been at odds for far longer and far bloodier.
It's a shame, that the worship of a higher being makes us act like animals.

Time for dinner and then getting ready for work. I need to clear these rather deep thoughts if I am going to deal with the crackheads at the club.