National pride

As a Brit plying his trade for some years in the Holy Land, I'm regularly asked what will happen when, for example, England play Israel in an important sporting event - who will I be cheering for when the action starts? I can't think of any major sporting contest in which they have clashed while I've been here, though for all I know there might be an intense, ongoing rivalry in the Monopoly world championships...I have to say there is no real chance of me cheering on Israel in such circumstances, though I'm sure I'd be made to feel as guilty as hell by various parties (er, mrs. anglosaxy, you can put your hand down...), especially if Israel suffered a humiliating defeat. Then again, the chances of England humiliating anybody (except the Germans - ah, 5-1, September 2001 - I've got the socks to prove it!) are extremely rare.

Having said all that, there are moments when a certain pride in things Israeli kicks in, such as the Israeli architect who has won the competition to design a suitable memorial for the World Trade Center. Despite the constant barrage of bad news that seems to afflict the nightly TV news reports, there ARE things that this country does well and there ARE reasons to be proud. Even as a non-Jew with very unperfect Hebrew, I can see the potential here for great things...I'm not going to turn this post into a pro-Israeli rant, and I'm sure I can find many more things that piss me off rather than make me smile, but I'm optimistic that, eventually, there will be good times ahead for the Holy Land. *sigh*

Anyway, later today I'm teaching Chiko, the mafia-affiliate who I'm sure has many more tales to tell, though nothing's going to shock me anymore. I'll keep you posted...