4/03/2006

Random Thoughts from Israel


I haven't anything profound to say, so I will go with random thoughts I've had.

...sitting outside reading my book, The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates and I hear something pleasing that demands my attention. It is birdsong. At first I look up into the ivy covered wall and the tall palms and the large green leaves of a plant I don't recognize and I see no birds, but I distinctly hear their song. Then I do see a small bird with a yellow beak and then another. They are singing...tweeting....birdsong and I think these are Israeli birds...is it Hebrew birdsong I am hearing? And if these birds, who are free to pass any boundry, fly over to Jordan or Egypt or even closer to the West Bank, will the birdsong become Arabic?

Site of Birdsong

....walking the very quiet streets of Omer on Sunday at around 2:30 PM and there are children, some with backpacks on their backs, others pulling them along on their wheels.....I ask two kids in my heavily accented American Hebrew if the building behind them is part of the school and they reply without a second thought to my being a stranger, no, it is for sports and clubs. I thank them and they tell me you're welcome. It is so quiet and peaceful. Quiet and peaceful and the smell of Spring permeates the air. Such is a place that hopes tomorrow will be just like today, nothing out of the ordinary. A prayer that tomorrow will not bring a terrorist's bomb, but if it does, it will, unfortunately, not be something so very out of the ordinary.




Bayit Ha Musica - A School for Music...I heard piano playing as I passed the building.

....being called to go to the house of "Ema", hub's mother. His sister and brother in law have just arrived for the wedding from Montreal, originally Paris. Must go and greet them; cheek to cheek....kiss kiss .....kiss kiss.....

5 comments:

Doctor Marco said...

I think your comment about the birdsong becoming Arabic is very profound. A birdsong is a birdsong in whatever location. There will be a time in which we will be like birds.

Anonymous said...

Despite your denial, you did have something profound to say. The birds don't understand human-created boundaries and vendettas. Neither do humans. Humans, though, acknowledge and observe the boundaries and vendettas, and the birds don't. The birds are wiser than the humans.

Sherril said...

Marcos and Dave,
Yes, it is only the human race who puts boundries between us and insists that those on one side are better than those on the other. It is a shame and should there be a time, as Marcos says, that we will be as birds, do let us hope that we will soar to much higher heights than we do today. And if, as Dave says, the birds are wiser than we, let us hope that someday we will learn their wisdom.
Sherril
שרונה
Sharona

Diane S. said...

I like that. Birdsongs which know no boundaries, are not separated by language or culture or ancient vendettas.

In dreams I walk along peaceful streets where everyone speaks the same language and no one is "other". Natuarlly, the city is Jerusalem. Perhaps not the city itself, but the idea of Jerusalem. The thing we must not forget lest our right hands wither.

I think I'll light a candle and say a prayer and call it a night. Thank you for a good ending to the evening. Thank you for a vision to build a dream on.

Sherril said...

Diane,
I will respond to you in the Hebrew......

בבקשה

In other words You're welcome!!

This is so much fun having a keyboard that types both English and Hebrew...I'm learning so much!