Justice without Mercy

Justice without mercy is revenge… That is no road to peace’ Thus spoke a holy man in the holy land on telly this morning. What an excellent way of putting it, thought I. It is a great irony that the so-called holy lands are torn apart by conflict and hatred, and yet we still feel this great connection to them. Well, I do anyway. I was brought up religious but no longer practice. Nonetheless, there is definitely something special about that part of the world. We spent two days in Jordan earlier this year as part of a Red Sea cruise and I really really liked it. Predictably, Petra was awe-inspiring. It was even better than I expected. I had failed to appreciate beforehand how big it is. And the colours! Just fab!

What I didn’t expect was how much I liked the country in general. Not that we saw that much of course during such a short stay, but just wandering about Aqaba and people-watching in cafes, I started to get a real feel for the place after only a few hours. It made me want to go back there, as well as explore more countries in the region, especially Lebanon and Syria. However, with seemingly no end to the troubles it’s a tricky business. How do the Israelis justify blowing up the road to Damascus for Christ’s sake? (No, I am not blaspheming, I mean it). It really is such a shame that one of the most interesting parts of our world is torn apart like it is. And as for Iraq, well. Don’t get me started….suffice to say that the cradle of modern civilization has been turned into hell on earth, but at least the American people have at last cottoned onto the horror of war at last (well, it only took 3 and half years, Ha! Ha!). Some of us said the ‘V’ word way back in May 2003, but now there is a lot of opinion that it is actually worse than Vietnam. Reap what you sow, say I!