One of the most frequently viewed posts on this blog is my photograph of Stirling Castle and Wallace Monument. As you might imagine, both of these structures sitting atop hills looking over the town of Stirling, have made a big impression on me over the years. I was born here, worked here in the local hospital in my training years and have returned to live here in recent years. You’re probably familiar with the Wallace, who the monument commemorates, either from history lessons, or from the movie, Braveheart. (Mel Gibson doesn’t look a bit like the real Wallace by the way!).
In the middle of the town of Stirling is a cobbled street that climbs a steep hill to the Castle. The first part is called “King Street” and at the top of King Street is this statue
As you’ll see from the carved writing, this is Wallace. If you look a little more carefully, you can see a few words in Latin – “nemo me impune lacessit”. It’s the motto of Scotland and translated into Scottish it says “Wha daur tangle wi me!” (roughly in English that means “Don’t mess with me!”)
Have you a local hero? Have you a motto?
Heroes Not Zombies 
I’ve actually had to work hard not to keep “Nemo impune lacessit” (None provoke me unpunished.) as a life motto. I don’t want to be remembered in that way. Though, it isn’t a good idea to back me into a corner and give me no choice but to fight. (Yep, dichotomy, because even as a young child I was such a pacifist my mother worried I would end up being brutalized my whole life. Then the youngest of my brothers worked to “make her (me) a mean girl” by doing things like tickling me until I punched him hard enough that he was satisfied and he’d stop so I could breath again. It’s still a good idea to stop tickling me the moment I ask, as one boyfriend found out via a sore jaw.) The motto of Kansas, which seems to be a life motto of mine in a way is “Ad Astra Per Aspra” To the Stars Through Difficulty.
One Lent I really gave our Priest (Episcopalian/Church of England) cause to think. I was a teenager, and he asked me what I was giving up for Lent, expecting to hear something like “gum”. I told him, “You know, I think I’m going to give up getting angry for Lent. I lose my temper at the drop of a hat, and I don’t want to keep doing it, so I’m going to work to learn not to get angry so fast.” He gave a sermon about it. It worked too, by the way. Forty days of working conciously not to lose your temper so fast, pays dividends for a lifetime. *smile*
Bleh, that’s Ad Astra Per Aspera I made a spelling error. I know the meaning of the other phrase because it’s in a favorite Poe story, the Cask of Amontillado. (That story never fails to make me shiver, and I pity the victim. Of course, I suspect that the “crimes” committed were petty and something most would easily forgive/forget about and move on, too.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cask_of_Amontillado
As for local heros, Kansas has John Brown and many others.
http://www.kshs.org/places/capitol/representatives/brown_john.htm
Hey, great motto. I like it. And great local hero too! Thanks Katk