Thoughts can come from the most incongruous of places.
I am by no means a gamer, in any sense. However, my partner is, and as a consequence, I am exposed to gaming culture. It can surprise me, and a good example of this happened recently whilst they were playing Fallout: London, a DLC-sized Mod, which to my understanding is basically gaming fan fiction, not endorsed by the original creators of Fallout 4.
Anyway, where was I, oh yes.
My partner came across a location, called Pindar. We felt sure that meant something. So I headed to the internet and found a couple of entries. First for a poet by the name of Pindar, who lived from 518-438BC and was one of the canonical 9 poets of Ancient Greece - revered in post-Andian Greece, thought to have originated lyric song.
Pindar was on a list of MOD Acronyms and Abbreviations, a document with a complete list of definitions for terms and acronyms used throughout MOD documents. In this document, it was listed as PINDAR - a control centre. These seemingly unconnected two things confused us.
However, with some research, it begins to make sense.
The history of the use of the term Pindar to be used for a control centre dates back to the Destruction of Thebes in 335BC, all buildings were destroyed as the city was burned to the ground, a retaliation of Alexander the Great for a rebellion by the people of Thebes. Some temples were left untouched, as well as the home of poet Pindar, who had praised Alexander the Great’s ancestors in his work.
In London, well more specifically, under the main government buildings of Whitehall, is a huge bunker called Pindar. It connects to Downing Street and the Cabinet Office via a tunnel under Whitehall. This is Britain’s most important military citadel, and would be the control centre the administration of the UK would retreat to during “conventional bombing, sabotage, biological and chemical attack, flooding, EMP attack, and the effects of blast, radiation, and EMP from "all but a direct hit or very near miss" by nuclear weapons“. Using Pindar as the name, becasue in complete destruction of Thebes, Pindar's house was untouched.
Now, for regular readers will find this a distinct departure from my usual thoughts - but looking at Pindar, and the connotations of safety got me thinking. Hopefully, in our lives, we will not have to deal with nuclear fallout, yet our day-to-day lives can provide upheaval mentally and can leave us needing to retreat to recharge and rest. It is important that we all have our own version of Pindar.
Knowing that we have a space that will provide refuge for us when we need it, can work well to combat mental fatigue. Whether this is a building like a loved one’s home, a film that we can rewatch and disappear into for an afternoon, or a piece of music that evokes happy nostalgia for us, or even a therapy session, we can all find many benefits from having structural Pindars in our lives.
I am forever learning, and keeping my eyes & ears open, because it means that I get to remind both you and me of things that will help keep our mental health in check. All because of a word that came up in a game!
Comments