One idea that most of us devoutly wish to be true is the idea of meritocracy. Current scandals and political events make us speculate about this concept and the longer one thinks about it the more it seems a fiction that has never been realized in human history. Different endowments in genetics, social status , gender and a host of other areas make meritocracy all but impossible. Out of twelve candidates, Jesus picked one to lead the church. There was no job interview or series of benchmarks to meet… it was a judgment by a person in power.

Life is never so simple that the best will rise to positions of power and influence based on “merit.” Merit is the most moveable of moveable feasts. As long as there is human judgment involved merits themselves are randomly defined. We rarely transcend our isms and cherished points of view. A hiring committee may find gender more important than academic achievement in the interest of faculty diversity and an employer might value physical strength over intellect. There is never a guarantee that, “the cream will rise to the top.”

Class often defines opportunity and opportunity all most always defines success. Some inherit great sums of money while other-perhaps better qualified-inherit nothing. With this in mind we have experimented with collectivism and other political systems designed to equalize life’s playing field, one to find that within a short time hierarchies surface based one upon power and wealth. No political system in the history of the world has ever been a meritocracy. It is a Utopian notion and we all wish it were true.

Clearly, it isn’t.

In the argument that economists call the homogenous packed goods argument, we encounter the idea that we have a pre-conceived notion of value that has little to do with the actual product we buy. We differentiate and we often do so for the silliest of reasons. A good example has to do with dish soap. You are standing in your local store considering a shelf of products that all clean dishes…any one would serve your purpose. Then the process of product differentiation begins and you consider price, color (does it match the color of your kitchen) size (is it taller than the backsplash) and brand. Ultimately, you find yourself buying the package rather than the product itself.

Imagine you are an admissions coordinator and you are staring at a stack of applications from students with excellent GPAS and SAT scores….any one of these students could do well. You have 40 open spaces for enrollment and 250 applications and the process of differentiation begins immediately. You look at extracurriculars, race, gender – even lookism – to help you with you decision. No meritocracy.

Then someone shows up at your door who is a “legacy.” Daddy has give millions to the university. In the outer hall, a student is waiting with a check for one hundred thousand dollars…well, you get the idea. Before long the word “fair” is beyond meaningless.

Recent events make clear how unacceptable it is to buy your way to a good education but no cure is immediately apparent. Someone is always the gatekeeper to the land of opportunity.

My mother was born just outside of Killarney in County Kerry just as the Irish Free State War was winding down and after a voyage to Ellis Island and a train ride to Chicago, I came along to be smothered in Irishness. As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, a storm of memory is gathering and the weight and absurdities of this special day stand out.

My mother, who was taught Gaelic, the Kerry Reel and all about Wolfe Tone and the martyrs of ’16, never had much patience with Saint Patrick’s Day. “We didn’t do that shit in Ireland” was her response to the mayor dyeing the river green and all the fraternal organizations marching. She hated Irish dancing because they taught it to her so young. But she loved Ireland and Irishness, the island of “saints and sages.”

So here I am today going shopping for a good corned beef, some cabbage and a bag of Murphies (potatoes) for an Irish boil. I will invite my friends and we’ll tell tall tales and have a drop or two.

My wife is carefully planting little beds of Irishness around the place …a garland of shamrocks on a side table, a little pot of gold on the kitchen counter and green napkins and placemats for the dinner table. I love these touches. Later today I will take down the US flag and fly the tricolor of the Republic. St. Patrick’s Day is the most celebrated national festival worldwide and green beer will be poured form Australia to Kamchaka. Even Ireland has ratcheted up the celebrations to encourage tourism.

The day is so important that Lenten restrictions are waived for the day . You can have a few shots of Powers Gold Label and all the soda bread you want without fear of sinning.

The day is unique…one of my oldest friends calls me on THE DAY and has not missed the ritual in the last 50 years. Clearly this significant, as important as playing the Chieftans or The Bothy Band at dinner. I know the whole thing was created in North America for sound economic reasons ($$$$) but I do not care. The DAY is still something that I enjoy immensely. We will tell stories of the shamrock and the trinity and everyone will be Irish for 24 hours. My mother would say, ” I don’t need to act Irish, I AM Irish.” But what the heck lets all act Irish and have a good time.

One of my favorite Irish authors, Flann O’Brien. reminds us that, ” moderation…is an extremely hard thing to get in this country.” Party hearty. My mother won’t mind too much.

My recent riffs on the life of the mind lead naturally to the idea of the “whole person” we hear so much about. All my life I’ve met people who are distinctly not whole…they are either hyper-intellectual brains on sticks or hyper-physical, no thought operators. Our Roman friend Juvenal is credited with the famous saying, “mens sana in corpore sano” … a sound mind in a sound body. The saying points the way to the integrated being we all seek to be.

To achieve the integration, certain traits must be in place and the chief factors are intention, discipline and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, our bodies do not usually move without our intention. You have to walk to the freezer to get ice cream and you often have to show up to work to get paid but nothing happens unless you will it so. We make many contracts with ourselves regarding what we will – and will not-do.

Being physically sound requires repetition, a disciplined, recurring effort that leads to results. After 25 years of coaching I find that repetition is at the very bottom of what people see as enjoyable. It is the only path and just be followed with the devotion a disciple grants a prophet. Reps can be spirit killing but there are ways to make them more palatable. I used to tell the athletes that I worked with that I only knew one thing with absolute certainty about people and athletics. It is the fact that if an activity is not fun, we will quit doing it.

A novice runner in one of the classes my wife taught (I assisted) said she couldn’t imagine running long distances over a long period of time. I asked if she ever, “danced all night” with her partner and she shared that she had done so often. Clearly, the high physical demands and repeated steps in one activity were perceived as fun while the other was seen as work…or worse. It is at these times that enthusiasm comes in. You are having too much fun in the action at hand that pain and fatigue are no longer factors. I have seen a few athletes break through to that magical place where no distance is too far.

The other day I read the advice of a personal trainer who suggested that when you embark on a program of physical activity you should write a mission statement to clarify the things we are talking about…your intention, the depths of your discipline and your capacity for fun.

As I get older my mission is maintenance and mind/body integration. I hope to function at a high level for many years and to do it as an integrated, psychosomatic organism. The days of wanting to win the championship or set new personal records has passed but I still retain some discipline and enthusiasm. I am at the point that Albert Einstein described: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

Sound mind in a sound body…it should help you keep dancing.

My thoughts about the importance of reading and reflection-the life of the mind- have evolved over time to include ideas about conscience, self awareness and principle. Reading is one of our earliest experiences of evaluating our world, its furniture, people and possibilities. We are also honing our ability to reflect and build a moral compass for lifelong navigation. Our first long looks at our own emotions and principles come from the stories we read.

I am shocked by people who seem to lack all awareness of their own actions and emotions and I suspect they have missed the opportunity to develop the tools and techniques for the inward look. They haven’t wondered about a character’s motivation, action and fate and so have less chance to understand their own inner works. As the characters in the worlds great stories grapple with the fates we learn a lot about how to question our own stories. In a way we are forced to become who we are.

A life without reflection does not preclude genius but it is the death of principles. A man like Josef Goebbels was a genius in the areas of manipulation and propaganda but a genius without conscience. Did he ever question his principles… probably not. Study and reflection leads to the development of principles. The well reasoned argument will always lead to a pesky place. For example, if you believe in freedom of speech as a principle you may find yourself defending Nazi speech as the ACLU did because principled action is often uncomfortable. Insights into this enigma will require study.

Ezra Pound called books a “ball of light” in ones hand. Can we even trust someone that doesn’t read. Someone that operates, “from the gut” is a very messy fellow. Read every day and read about the dark spots in the human condition. Ok, I admit that this whole rant came from someone who said to me with a straight face, “I just don’t like to read.” This genuinely pissed me off and I quickly discovered that this person was fed up with that pesky thinking stuff.

Maybe that great philosopher, Groucho Marx said it best: “outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”

Stay outside of the dog.

James Joyce was once asked about the audience for his rather arcane prose and references and he said, ” give me the ideal reader with ideal insomnia.”

This quip suggests what the true relationship between author and reader looks like. The reader must bring energy and willingness to the text offered and be open to the adventure of learning. Way leads on to way. When a reader encounters the unknown word or the strange world of the writer’s vision a choice is immediate…pick up a dictionary, suspend disbelief, soldier on or simply, quit. What is clear is that reading must be an active event not a dozy tea sip before the fire. You have to pack your bags and go.

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Dr. Seuss pretty much told every kid that had his books what the joys of active reading were and are. We do get lazy and pass on “difficult” books that we don’t understand or prose styles we find off-putting and we miss out proportionately.

When we think of prose styles it might be useful to develop a spectrum say from Hemingway to Jonathan Lyly. On one end is Hemingway and his punching, simple word choices and on the other is Lyly who deliberately confuses with an array of literary devices and arcana. I do not live at either of these poles and hope for a text that is accessible and cogent. A “great book” for each individual is personal and I don’t want to judge their choices. But what concerns me are those that have no interest in tasting new tastes , seeing new sights and encountering other souls.

There is such a thing as the life of the mind and books are the vitamins that support that health.

I write this because I have so many friends that are engaged in the life of the mind…they read, they travel , they work with others and then they read some more. They are lively in the sense that John Dewey was going for when he said ” education is not preparation for life; it is life itself.” Conversations with these people-you know who you are-are a continuous delight.

So friends, stay intense and engaged when you read. I’ll, let you get back to it. Hope I didn’t make you lose your place…

Stephen King calls books, “portable magic” and I want to share the books that I carry around after our trip to Greece and the Middle East. Included are novels, histories, memoirs and appreciations.

The Israeli/ Palestinian conflict is handled in many genres. A novel, To the End of The Land by David Grossman is a beautifully written treatment of the tragedy through the eyes of a mother terrified for her son. Sari Nusseibeh’s, Once Upon a Country is a blow-by-blow account of conflict from a Palestinian perspective. A very balanced and provocative book, The Lemon Tree, by Sandy Tolan may be the most even handed treatment of the conflict that I have found to date. Also in this spirit, is My Promised Land by Ari Shavit.

My wife calls Married to a Bedouin by Margueritte Geldermalsen an “easy read” and an eyeopener about living in Petra.

We continue to read and be fascinated by the cultures of this region and our studies continue.

Now, back in San Diego, it is time to move to other matters….

Almost three decades before Ben Gurion declared the existence of a Jewish State , a new organization- Brit Shalom- came into being with the goal that might be called the, “single state solution.” The organization was dedicated to fostering, ” understanding between Jews and Arabs…on the basis of the absolute political equality of two culturally autonomous peoples .” This idea appears to have all the earmarks of common sense. How did it wither and die so quickly?

Forces in opposition to a single state were both external and internal. The Russians among others advocated for a two state solution and hardliners in both the Arab and Jewish camps aggressively attacked integration to further their own interests. The all or nothing mentality has condemned the region to endless war and suffering. Unifiers like Sari Nussiebeh, Sadat, Rabin, and many others instantly became targets and many were killed.

Economic disparity, military power differentials and infrastructure plusses and minuses -all tempered by religion- are factors in the continuing fascination with a two state solution. when the Israelis were successful militarily in 1948 and 1967 Arabs were expelled from the conquered territories. Right of return for displaced Arabs was discussed at length but was never put in place. Spoils of war.

Hatred was fueled by the far right on both sides …Hamas, the Ergun and other groups had no boundaries when it came to killing the “enemy.” Part of the tension was simply demographic… there were more Arabs than Jews and no Zionist could tolerate a Knesset with a majority of Arab representatives. Integration simply would not work.

Then there is religion. This is the cradle of monotheism and single god orientation often demand an exclusionary moral code. You are a believer or an infidel. Righteousness is always a two-edged sword.

So here we are in an exercise of governing without consensus . The great philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal is known to have said, ” Any unity which doesn’t have its origin in the multitudes is tyranny.” Both sides see the other as tyrannical and dangerous. There seem to be no answers to this mess and the first thing that dies is common sense.

The Old Testament carries this quote… Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.” Not now and, perhaps, not ever in this contentious landscape.

Another factor that is seminal to the conflict is the Land… the actual ground and the average of the mind. The mental landscape is about ideas of ownership, history, spiritual connection and nationalism. The actual ground is covered in citrus, bougainvillea, almonds, desserts, lakes and rivers. The big question is who owns what.

To determine ownership by time on the ground seems a logical starting point until one realizes that both the Arab and Jewish peoples can both be traced to the Stone Age of 5,000 BC. From the Chalcolithic to the Canaanite period to the present day, both peoples existed in this contested space. Their mutual occupation is an historical fact but two things arise in modern times that change everything : Zionism and the Holocaust.

Established in 1897 as a political organization by Theodor Herzl, the group’s mission was-and is- the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the traditional Jewish homeland. A factor in the agenda is what Hertzl called, “the ingathering of the exiles”…the creation for the victims of pogroms, the many Jewish diasporas and the world’s virulent antisemitism. For Jew, Zionism is a philosophy of liberation and an act of historical JUSTICE. The Palestinians view Zionism as colonialist at best and at worst exclusionist and racist.

The Holocaust and the “never again” mentality adds bellicosity and steel to the Zionist vision.

In the early days of the Jewish return to Israel, land ownership is at the core of things. Many Jews immigrating to the homeland follow strict legal procedure in buying land. They show up with signed deeds and receipts that verify their legal ownership. Often these lands are purchased from rich Arabs or Ottoman nabobs that are themselves absentee owners. Imagine a Palestinian sitting on the doorstep of the tennant farm his family has occupied for five generations when a Jew from Poland walks up and says the famous words, “you are on my land.” When the Jew shows the paperwork the Arab is not impressed and certainly not inclined to vacate the place where children and grandchildren have been born. Chaos, ensues and resentment takes root. Both groups think they are in the right.

Today the acquisition of land has been militarized. The Israeli bulldozer is a dark image for the Palestinians and many contend the Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas represents a simple strategy of bloodless conquest.

Another factor in this drama is money. W.E.B. Du Bois, the American sociologist and activist made an observation about Blacks in America that applies here; ” To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.” Israel is the big boy on the block rich in shekels, military equipment and international support while the Palestinians are none of these things. They are clearly the underdogs…a fact that is violently resented.

A real danger occurs when these conflicts and resentments become the norm…the everyday business of the two aggrieved parties. This seems to be the case. Sari Nusseibeh and the pacifist on both sides that speak of integration and peace are fighting the immense weight of the combative status quo. It is doubly tragic when those when those who seek peace on any level are removed from the discussions, Rabin and Sadat began to consider the ideas of peace and integration and were immediately killed. The conflict has a life of its own.

Somehow Sadat’s words must be considered, “Peace is much more precious than a piece of land…let there be no more wars.”

Maybe someday…

.E>B DU Bois.

A strand of intolerance that can be straightened is referenced in a quote from Feisal Abdul Rauf , the Egyptian born Sufi Imam in New York City who militates for understanding among religions: “The truth is that killing innocent people is always wrong-and no argument or excuse, no matter how deeply believed, can ever make it right.” Most rational people agree but the crux of the statement resides in two words: INNOCENT and PEOPLE.

The tools of faith, mis-information, economics and militarism are all applied to dehumanize and criminalize a perceived enemy. Nazi propaganda films equate the Jews with rats streaming from a sewer, we fought the “yellow peril” and defined the black person as three fifths human. The rapists and murderers are streaming across our southern border…in short, our enemies are sub-human and inherently guilty and deserving of extermination.

Marginalization and stigmatizing seem to come naturally to humans. Islamic, white supremacist, crusaders, all make this dehumanization and punishment an auto da fe…an act of faith. People unlike ourselves are rapidly perceived as threatening, criminal and a “cancer on the body of the state.”

We co-opt spiritual messages to justify the process of stigmatizing. Jihad can be defined as a struggle that is spiritual, interior and central to the growth of the individual person or transmogrified into the idea of a struggle against the “infidel.” Christian Crusaders can kill all muslims while using the slogan Deo Volente – God wills it.

The antidote to this poison is individual contact with the other. In contact with Irishmen, Blacks, Jews, Latinos, Muslims, these hatreds are hard to sustain. My Arab driver is a nice guy. The Irish butcher gave me a far weight That black guy helped me change a tire….the more contact we have, the more humanity we see.

When we militarize our generalities genocide is possible.

Perhaps the hope in the Middle East rises from the geography. The area is small and contact with “the other” is certain. Integration of peoples -without stigma or violence- may come from the aggrandizement of millions of personal relationships between individual people as they go about the business of living.

As we travelled in Israel, Jordan and Egypt, we saw these interactions everywhere. In spite of all the political posturing and nonsense, Arabs and Jews have a common experience and a common fate. The unaccounted for factor is what each People sees as JUSTICE. Thereby hangs the tale.

I am buried in books.

Trying to understand the whole Israeli/Palestinian fiasco may be a fools errand but I feel the need to try. Ghandi once stated the obvious when he said, “anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding” and he is spot on. Trying to unravel the tangled fishing line that is the Middle East is both time consuming and frustrating.

Contributing factors are multiple and nuanced but I came across a rough explanation in the book Once Upon a Country by Sari Nusseibeh that clears things up a bit . In a stay that is almost a parable, Sari says This: ” I quickly thought up another story to illustrate what historically in fact happened. I imagined a frightened Jews refugee fleeing Europe and parachuting into the Ramle area in search of safety. Gun in hand , as he floats down to earth he suddenly spots my grandfather in Arab headdress standing in the middle of a field gripping a shovel, looking terrified himself. My grandfather , shocked by the sudden appearance of a gun-toting , flying man heading down straight toward him , prepares to fend the man off with his shovel. Running scared from the hell of the concentration camps and the gas chambers , the terrorized. The European logically starts firing at the Arab with the raised shovel.”

Much is revealed in this tale. The best view of the Jewish mindset is gained at Yad Vashem. No people have experienced the bloody and horrific events of the Holocaust on the scale that is so intimately known by the Jews. The TRAUMA which is unique in world history for its horrors and magnitude will need some serious processing. The Jews, with a NEVER AGAIN mentality are bellicose, protective and politically aggressive at all times. This is understandable but it can also be wrong, exclusionary and blatantly violent.

The Palestinians view Jewish inroads as usurpation and a violation of their rights. With this in mind, certain manifestations of their outrage include the violence of Hamas, the desire for integration of Fatah and the mindless violence of recent Islamic Extremism.

With these broad strokes on the canvas the more subtle brushwork is laid on in the form of questions about land ownership, the two state solution, water and travel rights and a thousand other nuanced issues that these two people share. Machinations and second agendas are the order of the day on both sides. There seems to be a shared siege mentality.

Another factor is space . There is no American West for expansion by either side and in an area roughly the size of New Hampshire , the issues of religion, land ownership, free movement, and human rights roil in a limited space and they become raging rapids that are nearly impossible to navigate.

I will pull on the tangled lines in the coming days by looking at some factors of the conflict that I saw on the ground in this contentious place. Montequieu called intolerance the, “total eclipse of human reason” and boy was he right. I have jumped into the rapids and hope to capture some understanding.