I’ve seen where Rasputin lived. Not all the places, but his last house. It was a modest wooden house, painted yellow, and tucked back in the trees at the wooded entrance of Czar Nicholas II and Alexandra’s Palace. It seemed a little creepy actually. He lived there with his wife, and his kids. All of this in St. Petersburg, Russia.
For some reason, I’ve always had an interest in him. He was some sort of a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed Holy Man. Some called him a Monk, but he had that wife and kids, so I guess they were using the term “Monk” loosely. Rasputin’s birth name was Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin — I guess they called him Grig for short, or maybe just Grigori. His birthday is today, January 21, 1869. So, yes, Rasputin befriended the family of Emperor Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia, and gained a big load of influence with that family. Mainly the wife/mother, Alexandra. He promised to heal their son, who was a hemophiliac.
There is a lot of speculation about this part of history, in the area of Russian undertakings. Many historians put forth that because of Rasputin’s terrible reputation and divisiveness, the popularity and credibility of the Royal Family went kaput. As did the czarist government. All of this helped precipitate the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty.
So, first they assassinated Rasputin.
Then, a couple years later, they assassinated / executed the entire family of Nicholas II. That included his wife, Alexandra, and all his kids, and four of his servants.
It’s all sad. But the Royal wife, Alexandra, sure did believe that Rasputin could heal their boy Alexei. Little Alex, cute as could be. And that was the precipitating factor in all of this.
Sometimes, we don’t see those coming. Those pesky precipitating factors. But a long ways down the road, when we have a big heaping dose of hindsight in our back pockets, we are heard saying, “Yeah, it all started when *such and such* happened.
Hindsight and precipitating factors go hand in hand. And wouldn’t you know, it all seems to rally around demise. And crazy me, the only example I can think of is the Salem Mall. It was a very popular mall, on the north side of Dayton, Ohio. Everything else was building up southward in the area, but the Salem Mall stood strong in the north for a lot of years. And then. It dwindled into oblivion. And people would say, “Yeah. It all started when The Gap Store moved out. It all went downhill from there.” Or something. The precipitating factor.
But along with those unseen influences in our lives — the things that make our paths turn in one direction or the other — are often our own good intentions. In the case of Alexandra, she only wanted her son to be healed. Little did she know that because she placed so much trust in Rasputin, her own life would end in a tragic, and violent manner in a very short time ahead.
Many times, our lives turn in good ways. Happy and positive ways. Yet, Every so often we get bamboozled. It may not be a big bamboozlement. But nonetheless.
The bottom line is, life can be tricky. As we’ve seen in Rasputin’s case. And we can’t all be mystics. Although, Rasputin didn’t see that final thing coming. No. Things come along and then they go. That’s really all there is to it.
There’s no stopping what’s coming down the pike. Good or bad. So. The best we can do, is to do the best we can do.
I know that sounds a little bit like “It is what it is.” But I assure you, it is not. Because, when we are doing the best we can do, at least we are doing something.
The best we can do. The best we can do.
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“The future depends on what you do today.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
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“To paraphrase Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear, and all those guys, “I wish I had known this some time ago.”
― Roger Zelazny, Sign of the Unicorn
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“It is easy to be wise after the event.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Sherlock Holmes
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