There is a poem, by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Charge of the Light Brigade, one of whose stanzas included these lines.:
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
There was once upon a time a card game, Authors, a game we played for hours when children. Collect all 4 of the author's cards, one each of his/her works till you get all 4, and retire the poet into your piles of authors identified and won.
Nowadays someone may ask, "Who wrote that?"
Someone answers back, "Tennyson".
"How did you know that?" comes from a disbeliever.
"We played Authors a long time back, and some of those writers are forever held somewhere back there in my brain." I would answer.
The setting of the poem's quote above is the 1850's Crimean War, the same Crimean territory that was taken from Ukraine by the Russians in 2014, and still a bone of contention today. Russian troops were defending a strong position and the British Light Brigade, mounted troops, were ordered to charge and take the position. It was a suicide charge, and the troops knew it. The order came down from above. The British troops realized what they were being called on to do.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why
Theirs but to do and die.
They didn't, and they did, and they did.
How did all that old History get us into a discussion of technology and traffic signals?
Aha.....
Sometime last year the county government decided to put a traffic light at the junction of Clark Road and Highway 58 to aid workers going to and from the new Volkswagen plant east of 58. Even with all the technology in traffic signals, this light has a mind of its own it seems.
Orientation: You are on Ferdinand Piech Rd. traveling west. We live 1.2 mile on Clark Rd traveling west away from the signal. South TN 58 is to your left and north 58 is to your right.
In a normal sequence, the vehicles traveling 58 have a right of way unless there are cars on Clark waiting. Let's say there are cars and trucks going both directions, north and south, on Highway 58, and there are other vehicles waiting for a green light on both sides of 58 on Clark Rd. In this situation 58 traffic has the green light.
The light on 58 goes to yellow and then red for its traffic going both directions. Then the Piech Rd. traffic coming from the east gets the green light and merges into the north and southbound traffic. The next sequence for the light is the green one for Clark Rd. traffic coming from the west.
The other day, I was the only car coming from the west , and stopped at the light. The light proceeded to stop the 58 traffic, and then the westbound traffic on Ferdinand Piech Drive (the road into Volkswagen activity and the road directly across from Clark Rd. at that intersection) moved onto 58 North and South.
Next should be Clark Rd. getting a green allowing me to go north or south on 58 or preceding straight across and onto Piech.
But there was no recognition for me, as the light changed back to green for the 58 folks. This was not the first time I had waited through a couple of cycles before moving through the light.
Now this morning: When I pulled up to the light on Clark Rd, at 58, there were 5 or 6 cars waiting on Piech for a green to merge onto 58. After the finicky signal light stopped the 58 traffic I got a green and crossed 58, headed east on Piech. Looking in my mirror, I noticed traffic moving again on 58 and the Piech cars still at the light. They had gotten no green.
That was when the Tennyson quote suddenly became relevant again. All the cars left at the light could only shrug and quote. The light had struck one more time.
My story, as trivial as it was, had combined 19th Century military history, technology, and poetry. Did this make me a 23rd Century Renaissance Man?
"No way", you say.
"I can spice it up with some Pickleball, a couple of frozen pipes, and a jigsaw puzzle. Will that qualify?"
But alas, you were gone....
