Thank You David Helstrom, Centuries of Building in the Name of God, and the French Revolution

1/11/11 

Started at 11:11pm - Yes I planned this. Highlight minute to my AMAZING DAY! We started off (I am skipping the breakfast...sooo not important) with Westminster Abby. As the ceremonial hot spot for kings, queens, and the rest of the royal family for centuries it was absolutely crazy. We aren't just talking about the fact that a ton of important people came through here, the amount of energy (and resources) that had been put into this building over the ages is insane! Everywhere was beautiful sculptures, mozaics, marble floors, and then the gold covered everything...amazing. The entire place was a testament to art, God, and rich of history. Amid all this beauty there were tales of love, life from all the energy, death as we walked by tombs, and even revenge - one man's remains had ben dug up out of the place to be hung and decapitated. That said there was also kindess, that man's daughter was buried in the Abby as well but they let her rest and didn't blame her for her father's deeds. The age was impressive and the worn steps reminded me of the huge number of feet that had walked the Abby for hundreds of years. There were monuments to great writers of England, composers, and men who had died fighting to keep the country safe. I ended up hating that we only had two hours to spend here and wished I wasn't wearing a watch. What made me sick was the signs of damage done intentionally by people. Initials, dates, and hearts with names were carved into the wood. Even random symbols. Fingers and wings had been broken off statues. Some where done unintentionally, like stone walls that people had leaned against or brushed by walking and rubbed the stone down. I just wanted the place to remain perfect and completely intact, without any disrespect done to the building and everything it stood for. I got to light a candle in prayer too.

Before we left Greg had made a drinking comment to us. He felt some people were making too harsh of comments about drinking and that they needed to keep those comments to themselves as we were in a country where it was legal for all of us to drink and that he would decide if someone was going too far. He felt that this was making a negative impact on the group. I can't lie. I am pretty against drinking in general. Being told not to say anything about my values didn't exactly make me happy - if I had been pointed out, I would've raised my voice loudly against this suppression of my values. I understand that we have a group dynamic to keep, hence the reason I haven't said anything against the people who have been drinking, but discouraging all voicing does no good. Personally the person who is voicing their opinion was right. After all, wouldn't you want to hear what is happening just incase you got a story where someone you are responsible for got so drunk that they didn't remember part of the end of night? Funny how that has already happened...and we are talking about people who quickly are approaching alcohol poisoning and possible death - funny how I only know this because of David Helstrom, the best investment ever by PLU for first year students. We should be able to voice our thoughts especially when we feel like things are approaching that danger point which could ruin the trip for everyone.

St. Pauls Cathedral was another amazing experience. We actually when up stairs before we walked around. Walking 257 steps up we arrived at the Whispering Gallery 90 feet above the floor. Completely round it held the ability to whisper from one side and be heard on the other. The statues lofted up even higher were incredible and had a gold paint above them that reflected light - making it look like they had halos over there heads. Incredible paintings covered the ceiling. The best was yet to come. We then climbed up 119 more steps. to the Stone Gallery, an outside circle around the middle part of the chapel. It had great views of all of London and I was able to see the skyline for the first time. We walked excitedly around like children, peeking our eyes between the bars and stone pillars. We then climbed 149 more stairs placing us over 255 feet above the floor of the Cathedral. Almost at the tippy top we went outside once more to take in the stunning views. Did I mention that it was all spiral staircases? Down stairs we had only ten more minutes. I felt like I raced around taking as much in as I could. One of the more impactful parts was at the back of the Cathedral. There was a monument built there and words layed into the marble with the effect of "To the American dead who died in the Second World War from Brittan."It was called the Jesus Chapel dedicated to the American dead. Here, in a place of such importance was a place that showed our bond. It was almost ironic to find a statue to a man who died in the war of 1810. Here I lit a whole row of candles. Its a different experience, giving prayers and leaving something symbolic that shows that prayer. Leaving I ran into Alex Domine, Jon Post, Carla-dawn, and a girl I had calculus II with, Blanch. 

We have two rules. Don't get too close to the Tube tracks and don't go off by yourself. Unable to break off with my friends, they instead came my Tube stop, High Street Kensington, after reloading their oyster cards. Will, despite his grouchiness because of hunger, waited with me so that I could spend some time with them - an act I am really grateful for. We joined back up with a group of classmates at the hotel and went to Starbucks and visited about their trip (and lack of rules) and the experiences we had both been having. We then went back to the tube station to get pasty's from the same company. I grabbed a chicken and mushroom which distinctly had a strong pepper taste, but was great for the price of 3.10. With the rest of my class heading back to the hotel I told my friends good bye and broke off from them.

Down in the lobby we discovered that we could do a trip to Stonehenge for only 29 pounds and be back by one, a trip that we had thought was 66 pounds. Although this cut out a destination we were glad to get the opportunity. All but two of us chose to do it. Seven of us paid with cash and the last five were going to do so with credit cards. By this time Greg was down in the lobby and reminding us that we needed to leave in five minutes for the musical we would be seeing tonight, Les Misérables. The tickets needed to be under a name so I volunteered mine. When we realized how long it was going to take just to get our tickets I voiced the opinion that one person should pay for all the credit card people. Ironically, none of the people who had debit or credit had enough to cover the others. Knowing that we needed to do this quick I volunteered to cover them all, a offer Kyle K. made as well. Already under my name once, I did it. At this point we were getting some heavy pressure for us to go from Greg. There was nothing we could do, as the guy at the front desk was writing out our personal ticket order and confirming it with the company. Somehow they did really bad math and ended up giving us extra change back which then had to be retrieved from someone else and redistributed as they two men helping us had been giving us change from their pockets. This process took fifteen minutes. Greg wasn't happy, clearly not with me or anyone else, but I made the right choice. If we had tried to pay for the tickets with five different cards it would've taken forever. If we had just given up, then we would've lost five members of our group or none of us would've been able to go. In the end we arrived with fifteen minutes to spare anyway.

Les Misérables was amazing! It was the second time I had seen it, the first time being ten years ago. For me I spent much of the time being pulled around by emotion through happy memories of these songs to being pulled into the grief and sadness of what was going on. At intermission I bought a program for only five pounds. Five! Apparently they sell the little programs as well, so the cost of them is covered allowing the large ones to come down in price, an item worth $25-30 at any show in the US.  Throughout I had been thinking about the ethics and the decisions that each person had to make. Many of these topics I forgot because I got pulled back into the musical so often. I tried to write down as many of them that I remembered before the lights fell. The rest I had to look back at the CD to find. Please pardon me if you have never seen this musical, and ask to borrow a CD of it from me as well.

Through out this musical Javert is a man of duty who has done his job as it is required of him but he also believes that one crime is enough to condem a man for life. I find him to be the most ironic of characters. He believes that every man is born in sin and must choose his way. He was born in a jail and chose a good life, yet he struggles to see that Jean Valjean has done everything to live a good life, even when he is set free and not killed by Jean. He doesn't care about the bigger picture either, but what he must do because of duty which drives him towards happiness, much like Kant. In the end, Javert stops relying only on duty but instead uses reasoning where in he finds that Jean isn't so bad. This creates a direct conflict between his duty and his reasoning. He kills himself to free himself from the conflict. Kant believes that reason leads to unhappiness, which clearly was true for Javert because he became so unhappy he would kill himself. Ironically, good will lead to his death instead of his happiness. In that position I would look at what the greatest good is. Having a perfect record of duty, skipping out on this one part of duty to have benefit the rest of the world would be the best choice. I would've kept on with improving the world by maintaining law rather than by killing myself to free a mental trap which was not very painful to the world order. My death also wouldn't help the world. In the ideals of utility, living the more difficult life would be best. Also, having more complete good will, I would hope that would lead me to happiness instead of unhappiness.

Jean Valjean risks discovery by Javert to save a man under a wagon. He did this because he valued the man's life over the less harmful (at that moment) possibility of Javert questioning his true identity. Although Jean knew he could talk his way out of the situation as his current position is so different from being a slave, it still took courage to save the man and go through that trial. When Jean learns that a man has been caught and is going to be charged for his crime he must consider if he should interveen and save the man by admitting he committed the crime, at the cost of having to run, get arrested, and being unable to support all the workers in the factory - or - he can keep silent and let another man take the blame, sending an innocent man to forced labor because he didn't confess. In this situation, utility would dictate keeping silent, as he himself would be safe and never hunted anymore as well as maintaining all the people he employs (as well as Cosette, who he promised to save) as this would be a greater good than saving the life of an innocent but criminal man. Instead Jean looks deeper, believing that his soul was truly bought for God and that letting an innocent man killed would condem his soul and mean he failed in his effort to live a virtuous life. I find this the most interesting of problems. He valued the one mans life over all the others that he could condem. I guess I would've valued the well being of all the others considering the conditions of squalor they would be put in, putting them at risk of all dying, as well as Cosette being mistreated the rest of her life. I would've valued the larger group over one person, but then my soul also wasn't on the line - making the decision so much easier. Of course his values of Justice had been shattered 

Marius is forced to decide between new found love and improving the entire french nation by supporting his friends and fighting. He places his life (and love) as less valuable than the higher cause of freedom for the French people. He truly seeks the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

Eponine though values her love more than anything else. She does anything for Marius just for the chance that he will fall in love with her, even helping him connect with Cosette. She eventually loses her life because of her disregard for her own safety to be closer to Marius. Her death song, A little Fall of Rain, is actually my favorite from the whole musical.

This musical ended my night on a high for the entire trip so far. I don't know what could compare. I kind of wish that there was time to get tickets for another show tomorrow but with the trip tomorrow I don't think it is happening. All I know is am content and this has been the best day so far. Kind of scary to think we only have one day left in London! I wish I had at least two more days. Alas, I did become really skilled at reading in the tube, I got so many pages read! I feel like reading in fifteen minute blocks allows me to read faster and not start losing attentiveness due to sleepiness. Maybe I should do that with the rest of my reading, read and then start back up on my journal and then switch back after I am more coherent - might make a less functional and intelligent journal though.