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Street Prophets Friday: The Tree of Liberty (photo diary/open thread) [1]

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Date: 2025-03-21

Greetings and welcome to a somewhat shorter-haired, less-fluffy, Friday-flavored open thread. This week I've got a few photos and a message to America from across the pond. It still falls within my series of photo diaries from my vacation in Ireland last summer, but there aren't all that many photos this time around. These photos were taken on the only full day we spent running around Dublin and, in my opinion, they fit rather poorly with the photos taken later that morning— so I've given them their own little diary.

Croppies Acre Memorial Park

We left the hostel in the morning and had some time to wander before our reservation to visit the Jameson Distillery. We headed west and came across a curious little park.

1789 was the year of the French Revolution, an event which greatly inspired Irish rebels to organize and demand representational government. Failing to see their demands met, the Society of United Irishmen eventually rose in open rebellion, The Irish Rebellion of 1798. Rumor had it that this flat area on the banks of the Liffey river was the site of a mass grave of the rebels who joined an assault on the barracks nearby. Although no human remains were found here, the park is a monument to the fallen rebels, a failed rebellion against tyranny, and an undying dream of liberty.

The last two granite blocks bear this uncredited inscription:

What is that in your hand?

It is a branch.

Of what?

Of the TREE of Liberty.

Where did it first grow?

In America.

Where does it bloom?

In France.

Where did the SEEDS fall?

In Ireland

I think the call and response form of this is powerful, but the way it was written with the called questions on one slab and the response answers on the other took me a bit to decipher. At first I read all the questions slab, top to bottom, then the answers slab, top to bottom. It confused my companions too, but eventually we worked it out.

The previous photo shows a couple things you might not have noticed. Not exactly high-res, so you’re forgiven. In the background, the right-hand corner of the photo, tucked in against the shrubbery, is a tent. In the foreground is a Coors Beer bottle. Both of these things are indicative of the troubled history of this park. It was actually closed down in relatively recent history because of the unmanageable homeless population occupying the park and the hundreds of discarded needles and syringes from the drug use rampant in the park. The lone tent in the corner shows that things have changed and we didn't encounter any needles. That I encountered an empty bottle of Coors shows that heroin is not the worst thing to have ever been imported to Ireland.

We left the park and explored the neighborhood a bit.

The Collins Barracks, home to the National Museum of Ireland's Decorative Arts, Design and Military History collections

That's about all I have for this week. The miasma of authoritarianism choking America lately has left me rather more appreciative of how America's revolutionary spirit inspired other people around the world to strive for their own liberty. I find it disheartening to see how eager some people are to throw their hard won freedoms away, losing themselves in the dumbest cult to ever stain the halls of government. However, I find hope in the shock and dismay exhibited by the people of those countries that followed the lead of the United States of America. Get better soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

This is an open thread. And yes, open to whatever you're bringing. I welcome links to any diaries you'd care to promote. Drop a comment with a link to your favorite charity, a news item that's captured your attention. Share a video you find entertaining, post a photo of your own. Tell us what's for dinner. #1 Son made pizza tonight and I’m proud to say that his pizza is better than mine.

Hope for the future, you can find it everywhere.

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