Belmont Club juxtaposes the Beatles & the Six Day War. While a commenter notes he got the date wrong (time-line ), Wretchard gets the gulf that lies between then & now right. He notes 40 years from now as wide a gulf is likely to open. A demographer’s job is to predict. (thanks ALDaily) A Secretary of State’s is to project. Many of us won’t know, but we can hope Rice’s vision of a free & stable Middle East will not seem a utopian folly to our children. One of my students confidently remarked that what was wrong with the Middle East was the US’s imposition of democracy. I got back to lit – I’d rather they didn’t know my politics. But I also hope her adolescent confidence is shaken by the next few years’ realities. That would be good for her – and for many others.
5 thoughts on “40 Years”
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One of my students confidently remarked that what was wrong with the Middle East was the US’s imposition of democracy.
She’s no doubt preparing herself for the starring role in your school’s summer production of “Clueless”. After that, who knows? Hollywood maybe? She’ll fit right in. Can she sing and dance?
She’s actually a quite good student – I feel guilty putting her in the post. A good student, however, often has learned from another class something different than I believe.
Ginny,
You wouldn’t agree with the context this came from, but I think it beautifully illustrates the hopes we have:
“I have an interesting parallel going on in my life. My son has a Vietnamese girlfriend who is as cute as a button (she came here when she was a year old) and her dad has returned to Vietnam to live, and my son and his girlfriend are considering visiting there in the next year.
“When our boys were in Vietnam, it never for a moment crossed my mind that in my wildest dreams any of my descendents, let alone my only son, would even think of going to visit Vietnam. It was unthinkable because of the war, which we thought would never end.
Mark,
Yes, it does make us see history in broader terms. Still I’m surprised he was surprised. We grew up with the children of German, French & English war-brides and hitch-hiked across Europe twenty years after our parents had fought across it. Our children grew up with the children of families made up of returning soldiers & their Korean and then Vietnamese brides. In an earlier post, I projected the healthy cross-pollination if American soldiers bring back Iraqi brides (and given the new Army, it may be soldiers bringing back Iraqi grooms). I haven’t seen any stats, but I can’t imagine that young, randy & lonely soldiers aren’t going to find women of their age appealing – and that some women of their age might find these lonely, athletic men a bit appealing as well.
speaking of Romeo and Juliet:
India-Pakistan: Not a happy marriage
By Siddharth Srivastava Asia Times 6/25/05
NEW DELHI – In the twists and turns of India-Pakistan relations comes one more difficult spin. What should India do, or how should New Delhi react, when news is confirmed that the daughter of India’s most-wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim is set to marry the son of one of Pakistan’s greatest cricketers, Javed Miandad?