I'm Off Then

A week after Sobrino Jake, 18, left on his "Camino" I picked up a book he had left unread behind and began a vicarious journey of sorts with him and Hape Kerkeling, the author of this book.

Because I live on the Camino this chronology of one sojourner's pilgrimage from town to town on his way to Santiago de Compostela, the Way of St. James, is especially relevant for me. It is interesting both because of proximity and also because of the hundreds of pilgrims that make their way through our little city of Astorga. I appreciate Kerkeling's humorous style of what might have otherwise been a dry journal-entry type of narrative. Instead it was quite charming and inspiring.

"In our Western world, which is practically devoid of spirituality, we suffer from a lack of ritual. The Camino is a ritual that offers a genuine opportunity to take up a challenge. Every one of us needs something to hold on to, but the only stability comes from letting go." - Hape Kerkeling

Destruction, A Simple Difference Between Love and Hate

I read the news today, Oh Boy! As if massive beheadings, victimisation of women, church burnings, kidnappings and more were not enough! the ISIS invasion into Mosul and massive destruction of art and historical monuments and artefacts has even the most liberal and atheistic individuals talking. On El Pais' front page we (teachers) couldn't avoid the subject. These priceless pieces of history are now gone forever and for the most part haven't been stolen, but simply ruthlessly destroyed.

There is a simple difference between love and hate. Love builds up and is constructive. Hate tears down and destroys.

“Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies. (from "Loving Your Enemies")”

― Martin Luther King Jr., A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

Extremists used sledgehammers and power drills to smash ancient artifacts at a museum in the northern city of Mosul 

Militant uses a power tool to destroy a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity at the Ninevah Museum in Mosul, Iraq. The statue dates back to the 9th century B.C.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2970270/Islamic-State-fighters-destroy-antiquities-Iraq-video.html#ixzz3Sygm6j59

Isaiah 59:7

"Their feet run to evil, And they hasten to shed innocent blood; 

Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, Devastation and destruction are in their highways."

Oh, where, Obama, are our Monuments' Men?! 

Today, in the teachers' lounge at my Spanish high school, liberals and conservatives alike have called you a coward, a turn-coat. It's the first time I've heard such negative sentimentality in traditionally Obama-loving Europe. Yet, there it is. Who can respect a president who sits by and lets such atrocities occur, offering only lip-service to the American people and the world? Even Roosevelt and Eisenhower, from opposing ideologies had the huevos to come together to create a strategic plan to act out against the unethical acts of the Nazis. 

*Monuments Men (see the film): "In a race against time, and under mandate from President Franklin D. Roosevelt and General Dwight D. Eisenhower, this group of unlikely heroes—museum directors, curators, art scholars, educators, artists, architects, and archivists—risked their lives on the front lines and worked tirelessly to protect Europe's monuments and greatest cultural treasures from both the destruction of the war and seizure by Hitler and the Nazis. Without vehicles, typewriters, or full authority, they managed to track, locate, and return more than five million looted cultural items. Their role in preserving these treasures stands without precedent."

El Anillo de Nuremburg

The Schöne Brunnen Fountain is the site of the famous gold ring of Nuremburg.

Agosto, 2008, Nuremburg, (Bavaria) Alemania

La Fuente de Schone Brunnen es el sitio famoso del famoso anillo de oro de Nuremburg.
This ring is an architectural marvel, because it was formed part of the gate when the fountain was built about a thousand years ago. The solid gold ring is not segmented, is not broken, and is fully part of the iron gate. Even so, it is completely free inside the gate, allowing it to spin. It's a mystery how it was crafted, as it should have been a physical impossibility for it's time.
Este anillo es una maravilla de arquitectura, porque se lo formo como parte de la verja cuando se construyo la fuente hace uno mil anos o por ahi. El anillo de oro solido no esta segmentado, ni esta roto, y forma parte totalmente de la verja de hierro. Sin embargo, esta completamente suelto, permitiendolo girar libremente. Nadie sabe como fue disenado, que debio resultar fisicamente una imposibilidad por aquella epoca.
It is considered good luck to touch the ring and give it a full turn. Se lo considera de muy buena suerte tocarlo y darlo la vuelta.
Nuremburg was such a beautiful, peaceful city to visit. It was almost difficult to believe that it had been Hitler's headquarters and even before that the place of Jewish massacre and hardship. Now the city is fervently commited to personal and civic freedoms. Now they have peace conferences and honor friendship and love between all people as a result of what they have learned through their painful past. This speaks to me on a personal level. I wish that out of the pain we're living will come an honoring of love, respect and dignity. Here's for the turning of the Ring!
Nuremburg fue una ciudad de tanta belleza y paz. Se me hizo casi imposible creer que tambien habia sido el cuartel general de Hitler e incluso antes el lugar de massacre judio y de sus penurias. Ahora tienen lugar conferencias de paz donde en las cuales se honran el amor y la paz entre todos como resultado de lo que han aprendido de su pasado penoso. Esto me tiene mucho significado para mi a nivel personal. Deseo que del dolor que estamos viviendo surja el acto de honrar el amor, el respeto y la dignidad. Viva el voltear del Anillo!