Overseas

Overseas

    Traveling overseas, no matter what country you are in, is usually rewarding.  Not only do you meet new people and gain new experiences, but often you come away with a fresh perspective.  It can be humbling to discover that everything you once thought couldn't be improved in your life or country (from your viewpoints to your attitudes) can be quickly modified or changed simply by hearing another side.  Even something as simple as a news broadcast can send you home wondering if what you are watching at home really is the news.  This seemed especially true while we were in New Zealand where the headlines about the U.S. amounted to just a couple of minutes on the broadcast, then it was on to other more important things such as rugby scores.

Cat nibbles in Amsterdam

    And while in Amsterdam, my wife and I came across something as simple as this packaging for cat food.  Could it be anything else?  No fancy names, no fancy gimmicks...a simple picture, a simple name, and you immediately knew what it was (even if the language didn't look familiar; and admittedly, as much as I heard that the Dutch language is close to the German language, it sure didn't sound like it).  Food is also a rewarding experiment (the Google Translate app really helps when reading menus), and often changes your mind about what you thought you were eating at home...ever try pizza in Italy?  Or sausage in Germany?  Or apple pancakes in Switzerland?

Marksburg Castle

    But the recent tragedy in Paris really brought a bit more into perspective for me, that of our history of conflict.  In Germany, there are many castles visible along the Rhine River; indeed, many river cruises use this feature as a selling point for nabbing vacationers.  But as with Rome and many other places throughout Europe, virtually all of the castles are in ruins.  Warring factions would conquer or liberate an area, then set about destroying what monuments or castles had been built.  Beautiful artwork such as carved columns or statues were often taken down and left in a pile of rubble.  So it was surprising to hear that the Marksburg Castle outside the city of Koblenz, Germany was the only remaining medieval castle still intact in the country.

Two of the many types of cannons

    Now occupied by a few families, the castle gives one a preview of life back then, with entry steps carved out of the rock, tiny rooms and cold temperatures.  This castle was also attacked and one could see the series of cannons and rock cannon balls (apparently more damaging upon impact, at least in that period), soldier uniforms and torture methods, all of which constantly changed or "evolved" with the years.

Entry steps carved from the rock

If charging troops made it past the lower moat, they would find another moat on top, their heavy uniforms quickly weighing them down and tiring them out until, exhausted, they would be pulled out and tortured.  As shocking as all this might sound, it came as no surprise to my wife and I.  Throughout history, the lives of innocent and often defenseless people have been taken and abused by those believing their country or government or religion was "right."  The Crusaders were known to kill entire towns, from the elderly to the babies.  The Roman Empire, and recently, Jedwabne and its ethnic cleansing of the Jews from its town in Poland ("...remaining Jews were driven into the barn, which was doused in gasoline and set alight.  Those who escaped or had hidden were tracked down and butchered." -- that from the new book by Anna Bikont, The Crime and the Silence: Confronting the Massacre of Jews in Wartime Jedwabne), are all examples of our "righteous" history.

    Matthew Lyons wrote in the New Statesman about the rather brutal history of the English fighting in ancient Ireland, circa 1580:  At Smerwick on the west coast of Ireland in November 1580, a group of 600 or so Spanish soldiers surrendered a small fort to an English force under Lord Grey of Wilton.  Grey sent in a number of men under the captaincy of the young Walter Raleigh.  Once disarmed, the Spanish were all put to the sword; there were too many bodies in the fort for the English to count.  Pregnant women were hanged.  Three men were dragged off to the local blacksmith where their joints and bones were smashed with a hammer on the anvil.  They too were hanged.  The English used their bodies for target practice as they hung on the gallows, literally shooting them to pieces...Elizabeth I was delighted.  Her handwritten note of thanks to Grey said, “You have been chosen the instrument of God’s glory”.  Earlier takings were even worse, as shown by the actions of Humphrey Gilbert (later knighted for his deeds): Every inroad he makes into enemy territory is followed by indiscriminate slaughter and destruction.  Every man, woman and child is killed.  Houses, churches, crops – everything is burned and despoiled...Each night, the heads of all those who have been killed are lain in a path to the commander’s tent so “the people . . . see the heads of their dead fathers, brothers, children, kinsfolk and friends, lie on the ground before their faces, as they come to speak with the colonel”.

    In the walled city of Carcassonne, France (as well as other cities throughout Europe), there is a torture "museum" displaying the Inquisition in full action.  And as my wife and I noted, one guide is France had built quite a bit of emotion against what had happened to her family during WWII under the Germans.  But once we crossed over into Germany, a guide there had equally strong emotions against what had happened to her family during centuries of wars and occupation from the French.  And now the Paris attacks.

    Where or when does it end?  Small or large, it would appear that our pattern of hurting and killing will continue, particularly on those unsuspecting, defenseless and not at all related to the cause.  How can this be justified?  How was it ever justified?  Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai (age 18 and the survivor of being shot in the face by the Taliban) feels that education is the key and her Twitter campaign (#BooksNotBullets) seeks only to have some of the military spending in the world directed to education instead.  On the site One, she says: We cannot stop terrorism just by killing the terrorists and people.  We need to fight against the ideology of terrorism and extremism, and that can be done successfully only through education.  If a child, suffering from poverty and difficulties, is not given a book, he will pick up a gun...I call on my sisters and brothers all around the world to join me in this mission – #booksnotbullets.  The site notes that just 8 days of what the world spends on the military would provide 12 years of education and schooling for every child on the planet.

   Sometimes, we become so insulated in our world, our country, our home, that we fail to recognize how different life has been for others.  Grandparents and great grandparents, rich with history, have passed down the good and the bad.  And often, a trip overseas brings us face to face with that.  Insulated in our protective bubble, comforted by blips of news followed by hours of mindless celebrity updates or multimillionaire sports figures, we can lose sight of history.  An event such as what happened in Paris can remind us that life is precious, and sometimes being innocent or living a good life is not enough...another can come randomly and fill us with more questioning.  Why?  Why would anyone do this?  But such appears to be history...

    But that is the bad side.  There is much good in history, those fighting for and believing in what is good.  In Basel, Switzerland, one restaurant posted this sign outside its cafe front.  It was a welcome beginning, a start, one person's efforts to create change for the better, to perhaps begin history anew.  I'm not sure I would have caught this sort of sign so blatantly displayed in the U.S.; but perhaps I simply haven't looked.  Perhaps someone from overseas has visited here and left with a good impression from a sign or person that I may have missed.  We can all make a start, a new beginning, a new effort to change history from this point forward...let's begin.

Sign outside a restaurant in Basel, Switzerland