What is incredible is that Thomas More wrote Utopia more than 500 years ago. Utopia was published in Leuven in 1516. What was there to contemplate 500 years ago? The crops was growing and the weather was still mostly fine. Was he unhappy? Was he longing for the past, which is always better than the present and not as bright and shiny as the future?
It is fascinating to read about his life. He married had many children, loved them, but did not like people who did not believe what he believed. He whipped some of them, tied to a tree, I believe. He was certainly influential. Many people wanted him to do things, attend things, sign letters, creeds etcetera but More refused. More wanted none of that or at least less. Eventually it was too much and the jury took 15 minutes to decide that he must be executed. Beheaded he was.
A ditty, a bit, an Utopian moment
500 and more years ago,
a discontent or visionary,
Thomas More wrote a story.
Utopia, derived from two Greek words,
'not' and 'place',
described a world not of this place.
Utopia is nowhere.
It isn't a place.
It could be a moment,
a blissful split second.
Perhaps at a traffic circle,
the smile at a stranger,
a helping hand.P.S. Not to be confused with Thomas Moore, 16th-century saint and philosopher