- #1,226
nismaratwork
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alt said:what a shock, they're people like any other.
I was quite struck by the absolute truth of this statement when I did the Jerusalem tour years ago. I expected evil Jews, mad Arabs, fanatical Christians ..
If there's one overwhelming impression I got concerning the lot of them (the ordinary people) is just how nice, civil and friendly they all were.
Poetry (again) I know, but Mathew Arnold said it well (from 'Dover Beach') ..
.. and we are here as on a darkling plain
caught in confused alarms of struggle or flight
where ignorant armies clash by night.
This is what makes the actions of ALL parties involved so monstrous... they're not monsters. Surely there have never been more ignorant armies than the extremes in the ME, Israel included. The confusion largely, a product of interests which seek to keep those armies from turning on them.
It's what is so heart-breaking when you see people just asking for a voice in Syria being killed, instead of spoken to.
There is always time for poetry.