It’s Always Fun On Arnarhóll

This is Arnarhóll. You know, the hill in the centre of Reykjavík. According to some of the oldest written records in Icelandic — specifically the Book of Settlement, thought to originally date from the first half of the 12th century — this is where the first permanent settler in Iceland, Ingólfur Arnarson, built his residence. This founding moment of Reykjavík (and Iceland) is commemorated by a statue of Ingólfur, on the top of the hill, where it has stood since its unveiling in 1924.

In the two pictures here we see children enjoying the winter snow by sliding down the hill on their sleighs. The older picture is from around 1950, the latter was taken just this month. The sleighs have changed, but the activity is the same. A French writer coined the term “the more things change, the more they stay the same” in the 1850s. To an extent, it’s applicable here, because even if the world has changed drastically in the past 75 years, the core of what humans do for fun remains unaltered. This is an excellent example to ground one self with, at a time when the norms we’ve taken for granted over the past three quarters of a century seem to be in turmoil.

The children in the older picture are growing up and enjoying themselves in the first decade of a world order sometimes referred to as Pax Americana: The American Peace.

For better or for worse in the post World War 2 world, the United States became the guarantor and enforcer of peace and economic stability in large parts of the world, its Superpower status backed up by the likes of the UN, NATO, The World Bank and more.

After 80 years, this order, (again, for better or worse) seems to be in self-inflicted limbo, brought about by the policies of the current U.S. president, whose policies are upending said world order, both by undermining the international bodies of the post war world, and by shattering the norms of communication between sovereign states, initiating trade wars with some neighbours and allies, while making territorial claims on other neighbours and allies.

And if our world order as we’ve known it for 80 years now crumbles with whatever unintentional consequences and uncertainty such changes bring, we may find solace in the fact that life up close — what we do for fun, how our young play, what matters most to us from day to day — is not in for fast and disruptive turmoil.