Coat of arms and cowdung
It’s a funny thing with those techniques where, under hypnosis, people can “remember” previous lives. It turns out they were all at famous battles, were members of this or that court, etc. etc. Rarely do you hear of a life of drudgery shovelling cowdung.
This comes to mind as a result of discovering the existence of a Rynne family coat of arms. I honestly believe it to be a load of the aforementioned cowdung. The existence of a coat of arms presupposes that someone, way back when, had the money and clout necessary to ride around in armour with a shield, participate in jousting, etc. While it is comforting to picture one’s distant ancestors with the old silver goblet in hand, the vast majority of us are mostly likely descended from generation after generation of peasants, saved only in the last 150 or so years by free education, the first wave of globalisation (emigration to America from the famine years onwards), etc. enabling us to rise through the ranks of pantry boys, serving wenches, etc. to our current position where we can afford to buy a fake coat of arms. ‘nuff sed.
