Ghost Dogs and Old Cars

I woke up this morning dreaming about ghost dogs and an old '58 sedan.  (Anyone into over-the-counter dream analysis?  This one beats me...) I learned how to manipulate the shower...soap up the walls, then spin...(thanks, Lee).  and then got a personal escort onto the bus where I promptly tried to give my money to a nice older gentleman (not the driver) who thankfully had a good sense of humor about it.  I met my host's brother, a charming man and aficionado of history (go figure). and then promptly insulted him by laughing when he said half his family had died. ( I thought he said he wasn't claiming them.)  I felt like an idiot, but thank goodness for the host's son who said, "why are you laughing?  It's not a joke", so I at least understood my mistake and could apologize for it...made it to the school, met some really wonderful participants.

And, really, no bugs--as long as we discount the roach that joined me for lunch in the train station on Sunday.

During my reading, I encountered this selection which I feel is highly appropriate to our situation today.

From "A Vanished World" by Chris Lowney

"...Medieval Spain's poets, historians, and chroniclers were anything but dispassionate.  They peered at events through the prism of their own sacred books and beliefs.  They manipulated religious rhetoric to pursue political agendas and vilified as enemies those who professed a different faith.  They bore long-nursed grievances of their countrymen or coreligionists.  They chose starting points of their liking when tracing the convoluted drama of their past, leading to narrative journeys that ineluctably corroborated their sympathies.

We're too often guilty of the same.  As our Muslim, Christian, and Jewish neighbors argue the righteousness of their respective causes, we readily pounce on oversimplifications, prejudices, and self-interest;  we're less quick to subject our own hearts and minds to the same exacting scrutiny.  We believe we already know how the Muslim, Christian, or Jew "ought" to feel; we have little need, therefore, to listen to his or her story.  We focus on the dogmatic differences that divide us, seldom considering that we are united in common worship of the same God of Abraham."