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Sunday, February 9, 2014

13 Traveling alone 2500 years ago and today-the matrix of Don Quixote Part 13

I am anticipating the drive.  As it gets closer, the moment of transition, whether for good or evil, we are built to anticipate it and even embrace it.  Embrace the change, embrace the love, embrace the terror, embrace the road opening before you.
I cannot wait for the morning to come and then for the changes that will follow.
The nervousness and tension and uncertainty will still be there, but movement will mean that I can put off any thoughts of that until the future.
And this brings me back to the story of Don Quixote.  Well turns out Sancho Panza is prejudiced against the Jews (meaning the same for Cervantes in all likelihood).
The "specific quote" is (used in context of a positive description of himself)  "...I am a mortal enemy of the jews..."  Why does everyone hate the Jews?
The Greeks get it because they settled on prime real estate.  While of late this argument could be made, in the historical records (and we are talking about 2500 years ago) not so much of an excuse.  The world back then was owned by Eastern and Western groups and the Hebrews were scattered among them from which vantage point there were regularly killed in great numbers by one side or the other, effectively being scattered around the globe voluntarily and not.  Did they, during the times they traveled thus (helter skelter), experience anticipation?  Were the able as their legs stumbled along experience relief from the problems of the day?

Over this 2500 year span who killed the most?  It was the Christians who are themselves essentially beholden to the Jews for their "turn the other cheek and brotherly love" religion (which was not common to the Jews who have a more vengeful god).
To a lesser extent, the Muslims did the killing.  The Muslims who killed Christian too even though their religion descends from both Judaism and Christianity, although the Muslim god is a lot more like the Jewish god of vengence and retribution.  At least the Muslims religion is honest, leaning towards killing everyone who doesn't accept a certain philosophy, a more brutal but at least more honest approach to religious warfare and, historically, strangely tolerant of other religions as long as they didn't encroach on government.  That of course is another and perhaps primary difference, is that religion in the West felt government should bow to the church while the eastern approach is that government should reside in the Mosque.
But I digress.  All this anitsemitism in Don Quixote encourages me to plagiarize.  I'd like to write this in a series of blog entries initially, but that's not really the way I work, so probably not.  The one line pitch is started, although its far from complete and it's important because the entire book will come from this theme.  A mad overaged man (or woman) who has the ability to talk someone else (who talks in corruptions of english) into some wild misguided undertaking that involves travel and the repitition of quotes; but there will not be horses and we all know the modern day equivalents, but which ones?  It looks like a pretty big target.

But tomorrow, it is time to hit the road again, and all my concerns about this will vanish as the road opens up before me as it will open up for you too.

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