In the eye of the beholder

Just for the record... I maintain that yesterday's post did not violate my 'no politics for a week' promise.  I asked a perfectly reasonable question about parenting.  It's not my fault that nearly everything in this part of the world has political overtones.

Take for example the photos at the end of this post (no, Photo Friday didn't come a day early).  Depending on one's point of view, one might see:

a)  a symbol of Israel's sovereignty/freedom flying gracefully over beautiful meadows of red Kalaniot (Anemones) on a peaceful spring day.

OR

b)  a symbol of Israel's military occupation flying over a conquered land and oppressing even the beauty of nature.

On this beautiful pre-spring morning the sight of red kalaniot dappling the hillsides under an IAF helicopters is a proud, potent symbols of Israel for me.  It doesn't make me think of politics... but I can understand how for some, the helicopter - and even the hillsides full of kalaniot - are inextricably tied to politics.

[shrugs]

Sorry, but that's just part of living in Israel. 

The soldiers flying the helicopter are not political symbols.  They are early twenty-somethings performing their national service and dreaming about their lives after the army.

The helicopter is admittedly an instrument of war... but it also helps secure what passes for peace in this part of the world.

The hillsides and meadows under which the soldiers and helicopter flies belong to my physical and spiritual homeland... and I well up just thinking about my incredible privilege of being able to walk these hills as a free Jew... after 2000 years.

And the flowers.  What about the flowers?  Surely no one could possibly read politics into something as simple and beautiful as a red poppy, right? 

So I thought... until I was talking with one of my older coworkers the day after the recent passing of one of Israel's most beloved singers; Shoshana Damari.  He explained to me that when her trademark song, 'Kalaniot' became popular at the end of the British Mandate period, it was enjoyed by many as a derisive jab at the red berets worn by the English soldiers.  I had never heard that before (and frankly I wonder how sound his memory of that period is), but it demonstrates how even something as innocent as a flower can potentially be tainted by politics.

Some will look at these pictures and see only occupied land overflown by a symbol of Israeli occupation and tyranny.  I see members of the first Jewish army in two millennium enjoying a spring morning flight over the flower-strewn hillsides of my country.

Beauty (or politics) is all in the eye of the beholder.

[Helicopter photos are Copyright  2006 Israel Ministry of Defense - All Rights Reserved.  Last picture is mine.]