Seeking Peace
When we took off on our "retired couple international travelers" lifestyle last December (Phase 1 was South America), one motivation was a desire to see more of the world. Another was to seek peace. While peace for many starts with the physical security that is the opposite of war, we weren't in an active war zone. Inner peace--the freedom from stress, worry or emotional conflict--was the larger goal, and I'll admit that my consumption of U.S. political news was (and is) a major peace blocker.
The last few days have been a reminder of the bigger obstacles to peace. Sorry for not posting for a couple days. We've been busy and I'll tie these days together here.
Last Friday was the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. by al-Quaeda, one of the most awful days in American history. My heart still breaks for those who died that day, their families, and many more who were injured or have suffered needless health problems due to their proximity to the World Trade Centers. The so-called Global War on Terror started soon after, with the stated goal "of eliminating hostile groups it deemed terrorist organizations and the governments the United States identified as supporting them," (per Wikipedia).
How far we still have to go.
At sundown Friday night, Rosh Hashanah began. Rosh Hashanah doesn't always fall on 9/11, as it's based on the Hebrew (lunar) calendar. It's the Jewish New Year, and launches a series of "high holy days" that includes Yom Kippur, the festival of Sukkot and Simchat Torah. This period should bring us closer to God, and to peace.
The fact that Rosh Hashanah started on 9/11 added an extra reminder of the challenges facing Jews around the world. Antisemitism is growing both on the far right and the far left of both U.S. and global politics. Antisemitism is conflated with anti-Zionism, which is conflated with opposition to Israel's current government, with nuance frequently being lost or ignored.
There are some weird combinations... far right supporters of Israel who, at the same time, are antisemites. Far left opponents of Israel who, at the same time, are not antisemites. There are Jews who strongly disagree with other Jews. (Take it from me, this is normal. And it's not like all Christians or Muslims are in lockstep with each other, either.)
Hold these thoughts for a couple minutes.
On Friday (9/11), we toured Kasteel de Haar. The 20-years long renovation of this magnificent castle and grounds followed the marriage of a Catholic Baron who had inherited the castle and a Jewish descendant of the Rothschild family. Opportunity meets money. And both families strongly objected.
In a prior post, I described Jean-Jacques Rousseau's argument that all religions are equally worthy, so people should simply stick to the religion in which they were raised. Marrying someone from a different faith should not be objectionable. Fighting wars because the opposition practices a different faith, expelling people from a county or society because they practice a different faith, subjugating or ostracizing people because they practice a different faith... all these practices violate Rousseau's stance. And undermine peace.
On Saturday, aware that it's still Rosh Hashanah and not having a synagogue membership here in The Netherlands, we went to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of The Netherlands, dedicated to Dutch arts and history, with over 8,000 works on display. We saw works by Rembrandt, van Gogh, Vermeer and others. Other than the Impressionists (amazing!), what stuck with me was how many works and artifacts depicted religious and/or territorial conflicts. Art imitates life, and centuries of Dutch life have involved conflicts. No wonder peace is so elusive. Rembrandt's most famous painting, The Night Watch, is there, and depicts a civilian militia in action.
On Sunday, we visited the Anne Frank house, also in Amsterdam. After two years of hiding--with her older sister, parents and several others--in a secret annex behind a bookcase in the upper floor of the building in which her father worked, the Franks heard the Allies had landed at Normandy and thought they would soon be liberated. But before the Allied troops could finish off the Hitler's regime, the Gestapo discovered and arrested the Franks, dispersing them among several Nazi concentration camps. Only Anne's father survived, and on his return to Amsterdam he discovered and published Anne's meticulous diaries. She was 13-15 years old during that time.
I'm reminded of Martin and Golda Bass, distant relatives, who as young adults spent 17 months hiding from the Nazis in a four foot deep hole underneath a spare bedroom at a Polish farmhouse (along with two others). And survived. It's a remarkable story, but too long to go into here.
September 11. Rosh Hashanah. A museum full of depictions and artifacts of war. Anne Frank. Approximately 1,500,000 Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust.
The pursuit of peace.
"Can we all get along?" asked Rodney King, after the Los Angeles police officers who savagely beat him in 1991 were acquitted of criminal charges. This question keeps rattling around in my head. What makes this so elusive? What keeps us in conflict so often?
This brings me back to Rousseau, who wrote that advances in civilization, including both science and art, were destructive forces on humans and that private property was the origin and source of all inequality. Hmmm.
The unfortunate answer to Rodney King's "Can we all get along?" is, apparently, no. The history of the world is a history of civilizations that rise and fall, wars and famines and diseases, subjugation of others, individuals with gigantic egos acquiring religious and political and military power, and elites in pursuit of riches far in excess of any imaginable needs or wants.
In spite of this, I still believe most people prefer peace over power or riches, in the spirit of Psalm 34:14... "Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it."
By the numbers will take a break tonight. I've written enough for tonight and promise the next posts will be peaceful or joyful or funny or uplifting.
Oh yes, please subscribe and all that.
