A parable.
Oct. 6th, 2004 05:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsidheOnce upon a time, there was a person. Let's call him Aaron.
Aaron had never been popular, but he could live with that. He was his own person, and did his best to stay true to himself.
Whenever anything went wrong, Aaron was always the one to be blamed, no matter how stupid the accusations, or outrageous the crime. Sometimes, even when there was no crime, Aaron was blamed anyway.
Aaron was beaten up regularly, mugged, and when he complained, he was told that it was his own fault, somehow. He learned to stop complaining, and keep his head down.
One day, someone else who lived in the neighborhood went mad. Not 'la la la' mad, but completely bugfuck nuts. Call him Hans. It's not his name, but it will do. It wasn't realy Hans' fault that he went mad, he had been badly treated in a recent fight, and had been left to sulk and contemplate his misfortune when he started hearing Voices. These voices said many things. One of the things they said was that all Hans' problems were Aaron's fault. Hans took Aaron, and started to torture and kill him, slowly and painfully. Hans would whisper, and shout, and become enraged if Aaron tried to resist his own torture. Most of Hans's neighbors suspected something was wrong, but they did nothing. They didn't really care for Aaron either. After a while, Hans' madness became so strong that he started to attack his neighbors, because he needed their houses for his own family. He had subdued many of his immediate neighbors before a combined attack by John, Sam and Nikita held him down and cured the worst of his madness by force.
The entire neighborhood got together, and looked at Aaron's abused and tortured body, and suddenly realised how horrible they had been to him. In their grief and contrition, they voted to give him his old house back for his own, the house he had grown up in, when he had been lodging in various of his neighbors' houses since he had been kicked out it, so long ago.
He already had some furniture in there, and the landlord was John, and he said it would be OK. But no-one asked the person who was living there. Abdallah had moved in after Aaron was kicked out, and had lived there ever since. Sure, various people had declared themselves Landlord, and even fought over the house, but Abdallah had done his best to make the house his home. It was neat, and relatively well looked after — as well as it could be — and was, apart from holding a historic wall in one room, entirely unremarkable. Then, suddenly, the rest of the neighborhood turned up with Aaron and said to Aaron, "This is your home now. Sorry for what Hans did to you. Don't mind this guy, just move him into the spare room or something."
Now, a lot of Aaron's new neighbors were upset with what had just happened. It's not that they hated Aaron — they'd always been fair (if not always kind) to him in the past. It's not even that that they liked Abdallah very much. It was the principle of the thing... this was Abdallah's house for as long as anyone could remember, and now it was just taken away from him? Just like that?
Aaron had learned from his captivity under Hans, and quickly became a martial artist. Before anyone realised, he was one of the most effective fighters around, even if he wasn't the biggest or the strongest. When some of his neighbors tried to fight him, he beat them off and claimed part of their land in retaliation. (It came out later that the neighbors were trying to avoid having to fight, but all their attempts to talk about their problems were met with insults. But that's another story.)
Meanwhile, Aaron was not treating Abdallah like a human being. Abdallah was being pushed around, and told how powerless he was, and Aaron imposed arbitrary rules upon him, including locking him out of many rooms. Abdallah would have been grumpy enough without this, but after a while he snapped, and tried to punch Aaron. Aaron reponded by shouting and yelling, and beating Abdallah, and locking him into a smaller set of rooms than before. As time went on, the beatings got worse. Abdallah tried to fight back and return to a state where he had a fairer share of the house, but Aaron had stopped listening to requests, or demands, or even pleas. All Abdallah had left was frustration, and the hope that one of these times, a wild punch would hurt Aaron enough that he would leave the house forever, and things would be as they were before. It never worked. Abdallah appealed to the neighborhood association, but Aaron's new friend Sam stopped any decision which would have gone against Aaron, no matter how reasonable. Sam was beating up on other people around the neighborhood, and had started wearing a uniform he had made himself and calling himself a policeman, before he smashed into other people's houses and beat them up and took their stuff. The more grumblings grew against Sam, the more evidence he took it that there was a conspiracy against him, and he had to do 'whatever it took' to defend himself against those who didn't think he should be the policeman, but that's another story.
The point of this story is that now Aaron has Abdallah locked into a couple of rooms, but they are not contiguous rooms, and Abdallah must ask permission to go to the toilet. He is not allowed to leave the house, or to enter it. His painted walls and gardens are ripped up before his eyes to build a high fence, and for Aaron to spread out into. And Aaron stomps up and down around Abdallah, shouting about how Abdallah deserves the treatment he is getting, beating Abdallah harder and harder for less and less reason, taunting him into a rage, and punishing him for reacting. In other words, Aaron looks like he is going mad himself. Not exactly as mad as Hans was (who, by the way, is much better now, and sincerely regrets his past actions), or quite as severe, but from Abdallah's point of view, it's a moot point. Everyone knows that Aaron will only stop beating up Abdallah when he is dead, but all their attempts to do anything are dismissed and derided by Aaron and his friend Sam. And Abdallah knows that he has less and less to lose. One of these times, he will go mad himself, and the walls will be sprayed with blood.
What, you wanted a happy ending? Or some constructive suggestions?
Sorry, ask God. I sure as hell am neither omnescient nor omnipotent, and any suggestions I can come up with already have been, and been rejected by one side or the other. It is beginning to look to me like Aaron and Abdallah now have no purpose but to beat each other up. Of course, we know that Abdallah is in the weaker position, but people with nothing to lose can do strange and horrible things. Ideally, either they could be given seperate houses, or they could be made to agree to live fairly and amicably in the one they've got. I know. Buckleys or None. I can dream.
Aaron had never been popular, but he could live with that. He was his own person, and did his best to stay true to himself.
Whenever anything went wrong, Aaron was always the one to be blamed, no matter how stupid the accusations, or outrageous the crime. Sometimes, even when there was no crime, Aaron was blamed anyway.
Aaron was beaten up regularly, mugged, and when he complained, he was told that it was his own fault, somehow. He learned to stop complaining, and keep his head down.
One day, someone else who lived in the neighborhood went mad. Not 'la la la' mad, but completely bugfuck nuts. Call him Hans. It's not his name, but it will do. It wasn't realy Hans' fault that he went mad, he had been badly treated in a recent fight, and had been left to sulk and contemplate his misfortune when he started hearing Voices. These voices said many things. One of the things they said was that all Hans' problems were Aaron's fault. Hans took Aaron, and started to torture and kill him, slowly and painfully. Hans would whisper, and shout, and become enraged if Aaron tried to resist his own torture. Most of Hans's neighbors suspected something was wrong, but they did nothing. They didn't really care for Aaron either. After a while, Hans' madness became so strong that he started to attack his neighbors, because he needed their houses for his own family. He had subdued many of his immediate neighbors before a combined attack by John, Sam and Nikita held him down and cured the worst of his madness by force.
The entire neighborhood got together, and looked at Aaron's abused and tortured body, and suddenly realised how horrible they had been to him. In their grief and contrition, they voted to give him his old house back for his own, the house he had grown up in, when he had been lodging in various of his neighbors' houses since he had been kicked out it, so long ago.
He already had some furniture in there, and the landlord was John, and he said it would be OK. But no-one asked the person who was living there. Abdallah had moved in after Aaron was kicked out, and had lived there ever since. Sure, various people had declared themselves Landlord, and even fought over the house, but Abdallah had done his best to make the house his home. It was neat, and relatively well looked after — as well as it could be — and was, apart from holding a historic wall in one room, entirely unremarkable. Then, suddenly, the rest of the neighborhood turned up with Aaron and said to Aaron, "This is your home now. Sorry for what Hans did to you. Don't mind this guy, just move him into the spare room or something."
Now, a lot of Aaron's new neighbors were upset with what had just happened. It's not that they hated Aaron — they'd always been fair (if not always kind) to him in the past. It's not even that that they liked Abdallah very much. It was the principle of the thing... this was Abdallah's house for as long as anyone could remember, and now it was just taken away from him? Just like that?
Aaron had learned from his captivity under Hans, and quickly became a martial artist. Before anyone realised, he was one of the most effective fighters around, even if he wasn't the biggest or the strongest. When some of his neighbors tried to fight him, he beat them off and claimed part of their land in retaliation. (It came out later that the neighbors were trying to avoid having to fight, but all their attempts to talk about their problems were met with insults. But that's another story.)
Meanwhile, Aaron was not treating Abdallah like a human being. Abdallah was being pushed around, and told how powerless he was, and Aaron imposed arbitrary rules upon him, including locking him out of many rooms. Abdallah would have been grumpy enough without this, but after a while he snapped, and tried to punch Aaron. Aaron reponded by shouting and yelling, and beating Abdallah, and locking him into a smaller set of rooms than before. As time went on, the beatings got worse. Abdallah tried to fight back and return to a state where he had a fairer share of the house, but Aaron had stopped listening to requests, or demands, or even pleas. All Abdallah had left was frustration, and the hope that one of these times, a wild punch would hurt Aaron enough that he would leave the house forever, and things would be as they were before. It never worked. Abdallah appealed to the neighborhood association, but Aaron's new friend Sam stopped any decision which would have gone against Aaron, no matter how reasonable. Sam was beating up on other people around the neighborhood, and had started wearing a uniform he had made himself and calling himself a policeman, before he smashed into other people's houses and beat them up and took their stuff. The more grumblings grew against Sam, the more evidence he took it that there was a conspiracy against him, and he had to do 'whatever it took' to defend himself against those who didn't think he should be the policeman, but that's another story.
The point of this story is that now Aaron has Abdallah locked into a couple of rooms, but they are not contiguous rooms, and Abdallah must ask permission to go to the toilet. He is not allowed to leave the house, or to enter it. His painted walls and gardens are ripped up before his eyes to build a high fence, and for Aaron to spread out into. And Aaron stomps up and down around Abdallah, shouting about how Abdallah deserves the treatment he is getting, beating Abdallah harder and harder for less and less reason, taunting him into a rage, and punishing him for reacting. In other words, Aaron looks like he is going mad himself. Not exactly as mad as Hans was (who, by the way, is much better now, and sincerely regrets his past actions), or quite as severe, but from Abdallah's point of view, it's a moot point. Everyone knows that Aaron will only stop beating up Abdallah when he is dead, but all their attempts to do anything are dismissed and derided by Aaron and his friend Sam. And Abdallah knows that he has less and less to lose. One of these times, he will go mad himself, and the walls will be sprayed with blood.
What, you wanted a happy ending? Or some constructive suggestions?
Sorry, ask God. I sure as hell am neither omnescient nor omnipotent, and any suggestions I can come up with already have been, and been rejected by one side or the other. It is beginning to look to me like Aaron and Abdallah now have no purpose but to beat each other up. Of course, we know that Abdallah is in the weaker position, but people with nothing to lose can do strange and horrible things. Ideally, either they could be given seperate houses, or they could be made to agree to live fairly and amicably in the one they've got. I know. Buckleys or None. I can dream.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-06 06:53 am (UTC)From then on for at least a thousand years, they seem to have spoken similar languages in that area, been largely what we now call a "Semetic" group of peoples- their main arguments were about Who Is God. Or Goddess, if you worship Ishtar, and that seems to have been the pivotal point of Aaron's national identity that distinguished him from everyone else. Most of the people, most of the time weren't even precisely monotheistic, like the Church and Rabbinical fathers sometimes would have you believe. Who you worshipped in those days probably depended as much on who was in power, able to beat you up, or who your family believed in as anything. But by Jesus' time, the Jewish identity seems to have been pretty firmly bound up in monotheism, while I'm less sure about their Semetic cousins, most likely some of Abdullah's ancestors. It would be interesting to know. As I recall, the Hebrews gave the Samaritans a pretty rough trot as well, thinking of them as untouchables.
It must be dreadful to feel so insecure about where you really belong that you're prepared to destroy other people's homes and lives in order to demonstrate your ownership-( especially when one look at indigenous Israelis, either Muslim, Jewish or Christian strongly suggests that they have a lot more in common together genetically than you, whose family has clearly been inter-marrying with Outsiders over a thousand years more than you had thought.) But wait... that story reminds me of another country- ours. And it is commonly believed by many in Australia that reconciliation between indigenous and immigrant will only occur when both are willing to listen to each other, and for the children of the invaders to acknowledge what's happened. But at least we're not openly killing each other anymore.
Check out the Palestine Costume archive's web-site for more info about Palestinian culture and its preservation in what amounts to cultural genocide.
www.palestinecostumearchive.org/
I love my Jewish friends in Australia, but the parallels between what Israeli Jews are doing to Palestinians and what has been done to indigenous Australians by colonisation are just too clear to me.
I know why I get angry- what set this off in you?
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-06 04:46 pm (UTC)A fourteen year old girl with twenty bullets in her body.
And the US vetoing a UN condemnation of it ... for the fortieth time. (Literally.)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-06 07:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-06 08:27 pm (UTC)The news today has made me sick all over again, in new and interesting ways, just when I thought I was 'used' to it. :( Listening to stories of medics pleading with soldiers to be allowed access to the bodies... Do I go over there myself one day, and try and work as a neutral party for the benefit of the injured on every side, do I stay the hell away and work in my own little corner of the world and pray for divine intervention, or do I advocate that we nuke the hell out of both sides and leave a sea of glass glowing in the desert night as a reminder to the rest of world...?
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-07 09:49 pm (UTC)Ahh, so it's you...
I like that story... I especially liked the names ;-)
And of course as we remember, Buckley made it. And that's the moral of our story.