Longyear in a long year...

I mention Barry Longyear's The Enemy Papers frequently here. Not because it's the best book I ever read (though it is darned good, let me tell you), but because it is the one I've read recently with the socio-political savvy most applicable to some of today's world problems.

I watched the news today, news coming from the Middle East, and wonder. Who will earn Aydan's Blade?

Longyear posits that sometimes a conflict can become so acrimonious, so tangled, so long and filled with recriminations that the two sides no longer actually seek peace, or simple socio-political goals. All they have is hate. All they desire is the annihilation of the other side. So long as there is one enemy alive, there will be one person on the other side willing to break a truce or cease-fire to strike. Under such conditions, normal, negotiated ends to the conflict are simply impossible. Such seems to be the problem in the Middle East.

Longyear posits a solution to such a conflict. It is simple in concept, probably even practicable with today's technology. But I don't think the world is quite ready to attempt it. Even if we were, Longyear notes that it isn't enough to have a good leader, or a good general. "Good" is not enough. It's not enough to want to protect yourself, and your nation's interest. It's not enough to want peace. It's not enough to be willing to send many of your fellow countrymen to risk death for peace. None of this, "I'm the leader of a nation, I'm too important to risk" stuff. It's not even enough to be willing to risk death yourself for the chance to live in peace.

Sometimes, you need a leader who would, of their own free will, quietly slit their wrists and allow their lifeblood to flow on the altar of War if it would end conflict. This is earning Aydan's Blade - being more committed to the peace than to anything else, including your own life.

Maybe, sometime in our lives, someone worthy of Aydan's Blade will come and end the problems of Israel and Palestine. I just don't see how the likes of Mr. Bush, Mr. Sharon, or any other leader yet seen, are enough.

Meeting of like minds...

So, my family is pretty darned "nuclear". Growing up, I had my parents and two brothers. None of my grandparents ever spoke English well, and I only ever saw much of one of them. I've two surviving aunts, but one of them I've only seen a few times in my life. I've no first cousins by blood. Any further cousins ar distant in both blood and geography - none of them have ever lived on the same continent as I. Not what you'd call a large family.

So, this weekend I got my first taste of My Lady's family reunion.

I think for a while My Lady was a bit worried about me. While we were there, most of her cousins hadn't yet arrived. This left us with a few little kids, and a bunch of older aunts and uncles. Nobody at all interested in talking to me. She was scared I'd be bored out of my skull, and put off by the whole thing.

I had no fear. Aside from being of the opinion that attending such functions and being cheerful about it is part of my role as Fiancee Apparent, I'm a child from a family that generally spoke the language of the Old Country at holidays and parties and such. I only speak English. So, I am very well acquainted with sitting through gatherings of people in which I have little to no input. Heck, compared to spending the winter holiday season in a succession of rooms filled with tipsy Latvians singing folksongs, a day with late-middle age to elderly, English-speaking people is a cakewalk.

So, I passed my time. Sure, I wasn't part of the social scene, but Maine is nice this time of year. My Lady made sure we got to wander around Kennebunkport without the clan, and that was pleasantly and refreshingly quaint. So, a chunk of the weekend passed in an innocuous, if not terribly constructive, manner.

That is, until our final dinner in Maine. Across from me is a poor kid who is in a far worse position than I. He's about 17, at his stepfather's family reunion. He knows nobody. He's at a seafood restaurant, but he doesn't eat seafood. He's going to be trapped in this same basic situation for days. Hopeless and bleak, to say the least. He sat glumly slouching over his mediocre hamburger, thoroughly miserable, and prepared to stay that way...

Until he realizes that, across from him sits a pair that will be his salvation - the rare and elusive Silverback Geek and his mate. Here he thought that he'd be doomed to have nobody to talk to for his entire stay, no shared interests with anyone, and instead he's presented with a gold mine - a pair of intelligent, communicative folks who've been playing RPGs and reading sci-fi and fantasy since almost before he was born. Slouching evaporated in favor of chattering conversation...

Ever have one of those times where making someone else's day makes your own? That was what happened here. The entire weekend was thoroughly justified by allowing me the opportunity to brighten this kid's day.