Monday June 21, 2004

Tempus Fugit

We took my daughter Lizzie up to UNH today, for Freshman Orientation.  On the ride up, I couldn't help but think back to our first ride with her, home from the hospital a couple of days after she was born.  I had to give blood at the hospital blood bank to ransom my car from the parking lot.  (You gave blood, you got a free pass.)  All you dad-drivers will remember this one: going about 15 MPH even on the freeway, and feeling every bump in the road as if your spine was made of glass.  And then all those rides with her plugged into the car seat in back.  Time flies, doesn't it?

One of the speakers today, in the parents' session, had a funny story about his time in college.  He's sitting in the back of some huge freshman survey class, and the professor, who fancies himself the next Professor Kingsfield (from The Paper Chase), decides to set the tone for the semester by announcing to his students, "If there are any dumbbells in this class, please stand up."  He's taken aback when one young woman in the front row gets to her feet.  "Are you a dumbell, Miss?", he asks.  "No sir," she replies, "I am not.  But I felt bad for you standing up there all by yourself."

Well, maybe you had to be there.  :)

Bend It Like Beckham

My Big Fat Punjabi Wedding. Sweet, feel-good movie, and Parminder Nagra (now on E.R.) and Keira Knightley are radiant. What's not to like?!

It struck me, having served at a fairly "old country" Lebanese wedding last weekend, how similar our cultures are. Jewish, Greek, Arabic, Indian. All of 'em. And as I watched them, in the movie, praying to... whomever it was they were praying to (I confess my ignorance of their faith)*, it occured to me that if an alien from outer space walked into my house, and saw us praying in front of an icon of Jesus, they would have a hard time telling apart what we were doing from what Jess's family was doing.

I am not saying -- by any means -- that all religions are the same, that the truth is a subjective thing: "whatever works for you", that sort of pablum. If you know me or have heard me rant, you know what a hot button issue this is for me. Truth is truth. But you'd think we could be a little more understanding of one another, a little more tolerant, a little more patient. You'd think we could see a little more of ourselves in the other guy and maybe cut him some slack because of it.

Contrast this with, on the one hand, the Queda clans in the Middle East beheading their Western captives -- and on the other, the inhuman, degrading, just plain mean treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of our fellow countrymen and women. In both situations, they've lost sight of the humanity of the other guy. To negotiate, to make peace, to come to any sort of agreement, you have to accept that you're dealing, more or less, with an equal. When you cannot or will not accept that, you can't even begin to have a conversation.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Why can't we all just get along?

[GET IT]

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*Guru Nanak -- thanks Naush! :)

(2004-06-20 21:27:17.0) Permalink