Friday, the 13th!

Friday, October 13, 1307 was a really bad day if you were a Knight Templar. This is the day that Phillip the Fair (funny) and the pope decided the Templar's were a threat to them and had too much power and money and had them rounded up and tortured for years. Finally after about seven years the last known grand master of the Templars was burned alive at the stake on a little spit of land in the middle of the Seine in Paris. Today there is a little sign marking the spot. Jacques de Molay, last known Grand Master, Knights Templar. Jacques and his fellow knight Guy of Auvergn were kept imprisoned and tortured for seven years. At some point forged confessions were produced, while these would not have saved their lives, at least they may have been killed quickly. They both disavowed those confessions and were condemned to be burned alive. What kind of persons chooses burning alive over a quicker death. What do you believe in so strongly that you are able to withstand torture for seven years and then basically choose such a horrible way to die? I do not understand the willingness to die for something you believe in, is it because I have not found anything in my life that I believe enough in to die for? I admire those that are willing to die alone for their beliefs - burned at the stake, a hunger strike, standing in front of a tank - those are people that truely believe. Those that strap a bomb to their bodies and blow up other people, not so admirable to me.

Well, may your Friday the 13th be better than Jacques and Guy's.

BEAUSEANT!