Hakuna Matata

For those of you that are familiar with The Lion King you know "Hakuna Matata means no worries..." as does the French phrase "Sanssouci". Why on earth is an exchange student in Germany be giving you a French lesson? "Sanncousi, roughly translated to "without concern or "without worries" is the name of Frederick the Great's former summer home is Potsdam, Germany. Frederick the Great, also known as "Der Alte Fritz" ("Old Fritz"), was the king of Prussia during from 1740 to 1786. I had the opportunity to take a stroll around the Palace ground while I was in Potsdamm for the weekend a couple months ago.(Just now writing about it). While there, my friend/ designated tour guide, gave me a quick history lesson, which I will try to briefly go over in this blog.

The palace was not as extravagant as other palaces from that time, explained my friend, because he wanted this to be a place to actually live. A place free from war and violence, where he could relax and enjoy his time "away from it all." To me the home looks huge and godly, but when taken into consideration the average palace of the time period, I can see how what she said made sense.

Beside the palace a saw a stone slab with the king's name. Beside it people had left potatoes. I was intrigued and sought out my "tour guide" for an answer.

During the reign of "Old Fritz" there was a famine in his realm.

Frederick the Great tried introducing potatoes into his kingdom, but the peasants were reluctant to abide by his orders in 1774 grow potatoes as protection for human consumption. Towns people of Kolberg replied: "The things have neither smell nor taste, not even the dogs will eat them, so what use are they to us?". People were weary of the potato since it was new and had never been used for the dinner table. Old Fritz decided to try a different method of getting his kingdom to accept the potato and had a large field planted with the crop and guarded by his own soldiers. People, believe that if the crop was being guarded than it must be worth stealing, did exactly as Old Fritz had intended, and sneaked in to the field to steal the plants fr their own gardens. Fredrick the Great had even gone so far as to tell the guards that if they see a thief, to turn a blind eye. His strategy worked and he was able to save his kingdom from hunger.

So, thought for the day: Why worry when you have potatoes!