ghosts & admissons

Regret comes in many forms, luckily so does deliverance

From a mountain top in the Golan Heights I was overlooking a valley that was divided equally amongst Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. In the distance I could see the lights of Damascus and a purple and blue fog rolled in around me. My glasses misted up and suddenly my clothes grew damp and heavy. I squatted in an old Israeli trench of cold concrete and rusted barbed wire and called my grandmother. We spoke until I was alone and the mountain was completely dark. I was later told that her perky phone manner betrayed her feeble and failing body. She remembered where I was and what I was doing, and she was glad. After telling her of how I climbed the Mount of Beatitudes earlier in the day to the site of the Sermon on the Mount, we made a deal. I would be back in six days, and even though the doctors only gave her five max, she said she would wait for me.

What else could I say? I was so far away; she would never get the chance to see what I had seen that day. The lush green of the Galilee, the synagogue of Capernaum, the sun shining off the Kinneret: all too far away for her to see. And now that I was here on a bombed out mountain side on Israel’s frontier I thought about how much more important the morning actually was, and who derives to be blessed and why.

'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.'

posted by El Chupacabra @ 4:10 PM