A dull overcast day, but still fairly mild, after a decent night's sleep. On 'Thought for the Day' Giles Frazer spoke about arguments - the difference between good and bad disagreement. Good disagreement is when parties with different opinions and conclusions, succeed in recognising the position taken by each other. Bad disagreement is when one of the disputants thinks they have 'won' the argument and dismiss opposing views and those who hold them. Some ancient rabbinic scholars would write down side by side opposing opinions about a topic and examine both to reach a truth they could agree upon. That way, losing an argument was unimportant, as truth emerged as the winner. Can this work in a world of power struggles where agreement about whether anything is true is desperately lacking?
Israel has blocked aid deliveries into Gaza for nearly a week now. The next phase of cease-fire talks is on hold. American envoys are reported to be in separate talks with Hamas. Trump is threatening Hamas about releasing the remaining 24 live hostages and 34 bodies. At a time when the resumption of hostilities can't be ruled out and desperation is growing in Gaza and the West Bank, the situation is volatile. It's hard to see how Trump's interventions are going to improve things.
Clare had a flute lesson after breakfast. I wrote a haiku based on today's Gospel reading and eventually walked down to St John's for the Lent lunch. Clare was out searching for a four wheeled shopping trolley unsuccessfully, and then she came and joined me. There was a World Day of Prayer service at two. Clare went home to rest but I stayed on for the service, prepared by women of the Cook Islands in the Pacific. Each year's service features witness statements from Christian women about their lives and concerns.
One woman talked about childhood schooling discouraging use of Maori language, emphasising English as a replacement. For people foreign to indigenous cultures, the variety of dialects and accents spread over fifteen different islands may well have felt like a problem for western pioneers of education, so imposing English would be seen as a unifying solution regardless of what this did to people's self esteem and sense of identity. Communication between islanders doesn't seem to have been an issue for them over centuries, only for colonisers. The same happened in schooling until the mid twentieth century here in Wales.
Britain came slowly and reluctantly to the realisation that bilingualism, even multilingualism is normal in many parts of the world where cultures mix or meet at borders. It's so tragically short sighted that a decreasing amount of money and effort is placed on foreign language learning in schools nowadays. While English is the predominant language used internationally, it won't replace indigenous languages, but be absorbed in the local patois which develops to make a statement about a place and its people, alongside both languages. Three dozen people attended, mostly women from the Ministry Area, plus a few from other local churches and a few men.
I didn't stay for the tea and cakes which followed, as I needed to walk. I headed for Thompson's Park and walked for an hour and a half, then went home to eat a couple of dried figs and a date, as I was running out of energy, feeling light headed after a light lunch. I went out again and walked up and down Llandaff Fields, to complete today's step quota.
After supper, I found a new series to watch called 'Dark Hearts' about a French Army Special Forces unit operating undercover in Iraq when ISIS was occupying Mosul back in 2016. It's partly in French, partly in English with a small amount of Arabic, subtitled where appropriate. It portrays the bleak modern urban townscape surrounding an ancient city established over two and a half thousand years, ruled with brutality. The battle to rid Mosul of ISIS in 2016-17 reduced its historic heart to ruins, but now its landmark buildings are being restored, and some of its dwellings. The story told is about a mission to rescue family members of a key intelligence asset. As well as the heroics of the soldiers, it gives a painful glimpse of urban poverty and the suffering endured by women and children caught in the firing line. Much like Gaza today.
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