 |
| Aaron's Tomb/Mosque |
Today we finally paid our respects to Aaron (elder brother of Moses, “Peace Upon Them”) with our trip up Jabel Haroun. If your sojourn brings you to this area I recommend the excursion. The normal 5-mile horse ride (we got a lift from a Park 4x4) is followed by a 1 ¾ mile hike up to the mosque atop the mountain. There we were escorted by Ishmael the caretaker/guard around the area & inside the mosque. Good views of Ad-Deir (Monastery), Wadi Araba & Israel; today was a bit hazy or it would’ve just been breathtakingly incredible. Ishmael, and his donkey named “Jack ass,” came down the mountain with us and he sang much of the way (I nicknamed him Neil Diamond). For those of us whose world view is through the prism of the west the works of Aaron & Moses are renowned and worthy of our respect and adulation, but I’m glad the Park provided a ride or this senior Ranger would be one tuckered puppy right now.
FYI, on the mesa just before the final-acension we found a fenced archaeoligical research area with a sign from the good folks at Helsinki. This struck a chord for us, as Mesa Verde National Park has been trying (unsuccessfully) to get a large collection back for decades. I hope that Finland's cultural property imperialism ends soon. Research is good, but only to support valid inquiry, not as a form of plundering or artifact mining.
 |
| Wadi Araba & Ad-Deir |
Every hour of every day there are Park Rangers on duty somewhere that are our “Thin Green Line” trying to protect and preserve our patrimony. I don’t know if you’ve been following RANGERS in the news, but a Park Ranger in Iran has received a death sentence for manslaughter in a shoot-out with a poacher in a rural and dangerous part of the Persian Empire. There is a history of Rangers being slain by poachers (and other miscreants) worldwide: western world, developing nations, etc. In just about all corners of the world the public servants guarding our heritage are being targeted. Unfortunately, it is an all-to-common scene: Ranger outnumbered and outgunned, with little-to-no-backup within hours of response. In some places Rangers are faced with “fire fights” to save their own lives in pursuit of protecting “the wild.” Iran has had several Rangers killed… yet in this strange twist of what we’d call a “good shoot” (defense) the family of the law-breaking poacher is calling for the Ranger’s death (blood-for-blood), and the courts agree. This happened in the Republic of Georgia too when a Ranger was attacked by someone with a knife and he used his gun to protect himself: courts there found it was excessive force (sorry “Indy” you brought a gun to a sword fight) and sentenced him to death (fortunately that was reduced, but he still served prison time for self-defense). So, to ALL you Rangers out there that do what you do I just want to say: THANK YOU!
 |
| Aaron's Tomb & Mosque |
Phil, Just got caught up on all your posts. Fabulous. You are just a great writer and an even greater brother-in-law.
ReplyDeletePat