Axis of Logic
Finding Clarity in the 21st Century Mediaplex

History
Thanks to the Choctaw Nation
By Cyberspace
Imgur
Saturday, Jun 3, 2017


According to legend, in 1845, an Ottoman Sultan declared his intention to send cash of 10,000 British pounds to victims of the Irish potato famine. He was instructed to send only 1,000 pounds, so as not to appear more generous than Queen Victoria who had sent 2,000 pounds. He sent 1,000 pounds, along with three ships full of food.


The famine was the result of three separate potato crop failures in the 1840s which decimated the primary food source of the Irish peasant class, who laboured in return for land on which to live and grow food. As much as 60% of the population died or fled.



The crop failures were due to a blight that rendered the crop inedible.



And this little insect, the Colorado beetle, was the main culprit in spreading said blight.



The famine has left its mark on the Irish psyche and is still spoken of today.

But dark times can bring out the best in people throughout the world and, in the case of this famine, charitable donations came from every corner of the globe.



Most notable of these was the $170 raised by the Choctaw Nation who were themselves impoverished, with the Trail of Tears still in living memory.



Their charity and simple human decency has never been forgotten and has been commemorated in the town of Middleton in County Cork, with an installation of nine eagle's feathers.

This is a monument erected in thanks to donors, and not a memorial to the dead.