Hyde Park visit

Yesterday (Sunday, 30th May 2010), I visited Hyde Park, a park in the centre of London that covers about 253 hectares. I enjoyed the visit to the Park; it was a fantastic day out. The Park is easily accessible by different means of transport and has about 5 underground stations along its border. The stations are Mable Arch (Central Line), Hyde Park Corner (Piccadilly Line), Knightsbridge and Lancaster Gate (Central Line) stations. This is about the fifth time I have visited Hyde Park. I have been there with various groups from work, church, club, etc. The weather at the Park was beautiful, sunny, and without a drop of rain in sight.

Hyde Park has a long history since King Henry VIII of England "seized" or "acquired" the land from the Catholic Church in 1536. It was said that one of the reasons for the English Reformation was that he needed money. Although the main reason for the split with the Catholic Church was that King Henry needed a male heir (hence, he had to remarry since the Kings, Catherine of Aragon, could no longer give him a male heir, but the Catholic Church had refused to grant him a divorce). He then decided to start his own church and place himself as the head of the church, making it easier to grant himself a divorce and remarry. As the pope was the successor to Saint Peter, he was considered infallible, mainly when he spoke "ex-cathedra". The" Catholic Church owned much land and money; the King wanted it to fund his war against France. Before the Reformation, you had to pay for prayers, preaching, marriages, blessings, dedications, burials, baptisms, etc. In short, you had to pay your way into heaven in Latin (Only the Priest understood Latin). Even after you died, the priest continued to collect money on your behalf so that your soul "rest" in peace" or "while it's in purgatory. So, they acquired all this wealth and land (people left their lands to the church after they had died) that belonged to the Catholic Church, making him a wealthy man. That is how Hyde Park was acquired, as I understand it.
Initially, King Henry kept Hyde Park as a private hunting ground, but long after, during the reign of Charles I (100 years later), it became open to the general public. One of the areas I love in the Park is speakeParkcorner; this is an area where there is true freedom of speech. Speakers there are allowed to speak as long as "the "police consider their speeches lawful." Wel" is unspecific and poorly defined, hence a bit woolly. 

People could say all kinds of things, religious, social, comedy, etc., about their views on life, the universe, and everything. It was a Sunday, and a man was preaching about God, sweating it out. It seemed nobody was listening. There was a massive gap around him, as if people were avoiding him. But despite this, the man continued shouting and speaking with deep conviction and power.

Although some other people were not speaking, giving free hugs had a more significant following. The concept was that if you gave a free hug, you positively affected someone's life. This was a philosophy I felt very strongly about; it seemed like a good idea. 

Like the film Pay It Forward, the general idea is that if you do a good deed to a total stranger, the stranger will do another good deed to another stranger, and your single good deed will spread around the world.

A lot of people had an objective or a message to pass on. But there was a man. Everyone needed to learn what his message was. When we arrived there at about 12 noon, he was silent, and when we left about 5 hours later, he was still there smiling foolishly. People were confused: "What" was his message?" 
 
Then we have "Muslim " ladies who are "trying" to convince us that wearing the Hijab is a choice thing. These women came across as highly educated, confident, intelligent and had been to university. They told us that they were pleased doing it. Their arguments were quite persuasive and convincing. I do not know whether they would feel differently if they were not as beautiful, uneducated, and made to stay at home in a harem. The French had banned the wearing of the Hijab; the French had always had a long, complicated history with religion since the French Revolution. When most people in the Western world speak to you,  they like looking at your face and body language. Some people become uncomfortable if you hide your face; they believe it affects interpersonal communication. These ladies did not make me uncomfortable, and they could communicate their point, which I understood.