09.21.08
Armageddon’R Done
Comedy Around the World: Next Stop, Israel. Before my trip, I made a mental list of places I wanted to visit while in this historic land. One of the main places I wanted to see was Armageddon. No, not the one from the movie, the actual historic site of the ancient town, Megiddo. Where the final battle of good and evil will occur. Maybe Bruce Willis might star in it, I’m not sure. Or Tom Atkins.
I imagined this place to be a disaster zone. After all, the ancient battles had been fought there, all the major armies of their times fought there, it had to be exciting! And interesting! And–
My host family’s mother had never heard of the place. And she was Israeli. Her husband explained it to her. He knew; but only because he worked for the tourism industry.
When the Eged bus finally let me off at the historic site, I had to walk about 2 miles to get the the site. Buses didn’t go directly there. It was a vast plains area. So vast that the silence deafened me to the cars passing until they were about 10 feet away from me. (But I did hear the expletives from the drivers, telling me in Hebrew, probably, “Get out of the middle of the road!”, and, “No, Bruce Willis isn’t here. Go home.”)
The historic site wasn’t as glamorous as I had imagined it. It wasn’t even THERE! Most of the city’s ruins were underground, they hadn’t been excavated yet. There was no blood, only dirt and sand and things to read in the little building by the ruins.
When we take a picture in front of the Grand Canyon, does that mean that we dug it out? If I stand in front of an F-16, does that mean I can fly it? But how many things do we take as fact, unchangable, because that is our opinion. Our vision. Our expectation. And then, when we see the real thing, we are shocked. Maybe even disappointed.
What if we could practice seeing a different perspective before we experienced the actual thing? What if we believed that our perspective wasn’t the correct one, or the only correct one.
How must stress would that take away from our shoulders? From our relationships? From our peace of mind?
