Happy 4th to all the world

It is possible that I love America too much. Well, I’m not convinced that such a thing is possible but I do feel at times I have an excessive amount of patriotism. I just love America. I love the values it stands for and the principles upon which it is based, at least within my own realm of understanding. Certain I acknowledge that we have our faults but we are still human after all. I am tremendously proud to be part of the United States, even with our errors over the centuries.

So the celebrations: We decided that it was an excellent opportunity to visit the Knesset or Israeli parliament and neighboring monuments. We had a group of 21 that was also convinced likewise. So essentially we went to the national mall of Israel. Obviously this isn’t as big of a deal as it is a nation of 7.5 million instead of 300 million. I suppose the extra revenue leads to bigger monuments.

So after working our way through the complicated taxi thing (try splitting a fare 13 ways and getting correct change) we marched up to the front gate and broke ourselves into smaller groups so we wouldn’t need a reservation. Then the guard tells us the English tour isn’t for another 2 hours but says if we speak Spanish we can go to that. Select a random (ok semi random) group of 21 BYU students and how many Spanish speakers do you have? We had six. So we divided up again prepared to translate but then he figure out what we were up to and rejected that plan. So instead we visited a Museum. It had a huge impressive collection spanning a good 2000 years of history. Impressive but we have seen most of it already at other museums. It was interesting to sit a moment and ponder all the civilizations that have risen and fallen in this small portion of the world. Reflecting on America we are the dominant civilization right now. We are the Romans, or the Greeks, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Egyptians… The question this brings to mind is how do we maintain our position of power? Then answer that came to me was that we won’t. It doesn’t matter what any of those civilizations did eventually they fell and another took their spot. That is the natural course. So if national security isn’t the right question what is the right question to ponder when considering the fallen nations  of the earth? If empires don’t last what does last? I think I’ll leave that question unanswered.

We then wandered through the Supreme Court building. We went through a metal detector but after that we had cameras and could wander wherever we wanted in the main portions of the building. We could even walk into the courtroom (which was in session) and watch for as long as we wanted. They had three justices, two recorders, two lawyers and one women who I guess was the defendant and that was it. Very simple. One of the Lawyers was giving a passionate speech about something but it was all in Hebrew so I don’t know what it was all about. Can you imagine how hard it would be to be a judge or lawyer where a bunch of tourists come marching through your courtroom all day long? We didn’t have tour guides because they were on strike. In any case it was a pretty and symbolic building and I did like how public it was. I guess you can do that if you have a smaller population.

We then waited on the grass, ate lunch, played with the random cats they have everywhere (the city is full of stray cats, maybe even rivaling San Bernardino. I suspect the lack of dogs (I’ve only seen two in two months) has something to do with it.) As we sat there in a daze slumber the girls of the group ran off to take model pictures in the rose garden. Now something about BYU girls, one thing led to another and soon it was engagement photos. Now naturally they needed a boy for this project. Their first choice was siting in a tree chatting with another girl so I was the default backup. So I posed for 5 or 6 innocent picture not realizing that by the time dinner was over I would be married to 9 girls. After the rumors started flying my FHE wife found out and got upset which infected several of our children, two other girls came up  and asked why they couldn’t be engage to me also and one of my fellow models broke off the engagement over a political disagreement. It has been a messy evening. Maybe next week I should pose as Prime Minister or something. Perhaps I’ll add one of the photos if I ever see them.

We did get into the Knesset. Compared to our congress I think it is a miracle that they get anything done. They have 120 members in one house. Each party is given a number of seats based on what percentage of the national vote they get. The catch is that instead of 2 parties they have 30+ about 16 of which actually get enough votes to get a seat.  The largest party has 28 seats, far from a majority. Yet you still need a majority to create a government (the executive branch is pulled out of the 120 Knesset members). So multiple parties have to compromise and build coalition governments so they can have a majority. So instead of the republicans running things its a coalition of 7 parties that banded together.  Pretty intense.

We came home after that to work on our 4th of July party that included a Bar-BQ that was almost legitimate. Afterwards somehow I found myself MCing our patriotic moment. We sang a song, had Jud Kennedy read a passage from JFK’s inaugural address, received a brief speech from Chris, then ended with the National Anthem. After that it was water fights, bobbing for apples, face painting and sparklers. There was a concert above us in the auditorium with a bunch of older people attending. We got quite a few weird looks from the people in the upper balconies. What can we do? Got to love the country.

After that, as if the day wasn’t fantastic enough, we had the rare opportunity to go into the old city after dark. That is not allowed but we had a cool opportunity and most of the faculty was coming along. So earlier we had visited the church of St John the Baptist and met with the Priest in charge of it. He was a really cool old guy that looked like Dumbledore named Theophanes. We chatted for an hour as he told us about the church. As we left he invited us to come back after dark to see what the church looked like with nothing but the oil lamps lighting it. (its a Greek Orthodox church by the way)  So we gather 18 people (including our professors) and drove out there to spend a good hour wandering around the darkened yet enchanting church. Theophanes told all kinds of cool stories and explained a bunch of the traditions the paintings were based on. He even let us sing “Lead kindly light” It was awesome to be in the old city after dark. It was so different yet didn’t feel creepy. One of our professors has volunteered to go back later and photograph everything in the church for the priest. I see the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Well, sorry this is way long. There is just so much to tell.  Plus we are leaving to Galilee tomorrow and I won’t have a computer until the 15th. So until then dear audience I must bid you adieu with all the hope for your safety and security I can muster. Tomorrow I will walk the land where Jesus taught.