This grim (or trying to be grim) image is attempting to depict the ‘Wigtown Martyrs’. I’ll not pretend to know my history, because although I am fascinated by the human story, I struggle to remember the huge complexity of it. The martyrs were two women, both called Margaret, prosecuted as Covenanters in the late 17th Century. Their sentence was to be drowned at stake on the incoming tide, with the older, 63 year old, Margaret staked deeper so as to give the other Margaret, a teenager, a chance to renounce in time. This ploy was to no avail. It’s a very gruesome prospect, and makes me think how sometimes the suspense or expectation can be much, much worse than the actual event. To prolong a death sentence in such a way is such cruelty, it is hard to comprehend. I’m aware of far more gory practices having taken place, but this might be the worse sentence psychologically.
So, I have been thinking about inevitability. It’s a difficult one because, we all know, everything passes. And yet, there is nothing we can do about it. It is utterly beyond our control, and yet that suspense looms and we do whatever in our power to stop it. Whatever it is, the tide will come. The only way to find peace with this is to learn acceptance.
meandertect 