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Last night I became embroiled in a heated ”discussion”. It started off with a a brief outline of the recent Treaty of Lisbon with an Irish couple and the next thing I knew I defending Roe vs Wade while they started preaching at me – at me.

The upshot is that I had believe in god or else. My ”rational mind is blocking the Spirit of God from entering me.” To be honest that sounds a bit invasive… I was willing to respect their right to believe in what they wished to believe in, yet they were unable to let me have my own beliefs in return.

This is yet another glaring difference between the system in Europe and United States. It makes me understand even more fully why my ancestors left the European continent (Ireland, Scotland, and Germany) in search of a different life. After realizing that the discussion had disintegrated completely and there was no debate anymore, and I was being preached at, I said, ”Excuse me, I do not appreciate being preached at, so this is where I say ‘good night’.” I left the table.

The jist of their rationale is that it is alright for the government to tell women what to do with their bodies–in this case. So where does it end…? What will they allow their government to do next? Will they allow their government to tell them how to worship? How about peaceful assembly? How about the right to vote? What about free speech? It sounds to me as if these two extremely devout, fundamentalist, Vatican II, Roman Catholics would fit right in in a totalitarian or fascist system. Let the government tell you when, and how, to take a dump. I was so shaken up by this ‘conversation’ that it took three phone calls and another three hours before I fell asleep.

This is what I dreamed…

I was on a religious retreat as an exploration of faith. We were in the woods around a long wooden table, very roughly hewn. There were about five of us…all dressed in robes, not unlike monk’s habits. Dinner was thin soup, salad on wooden plates, and white wine followed by small jiggers of fiery brandy. I drank the wine and brandy…I had a drunk dream, and awful one. I tried in vain to contact anyone via text-messaging and finally reached my sponsor, telling him that these people were crazy and I had to get out. He told me that all was well and that I did not have to believe what they believed. I was planning my escape from the group when it was announced that the retreat was over and we would all be driven home. On the bus back home I commented to some other attendees that this way was not for me, and perhaps not for everyone. They agreed, the sun came out, and all was well. End of dream.

What a relief! My right to believe what I wish to believe is safe from the dogmatic and draconian Old World. I do not have to agree with what anyone else believes either, merely respect their right to belief. That is a fundamental right that all human beings must have. It is the foundation upon which all others are built.

I have used way too many italicized words in this post.

Sorry to sound preachy.

I’ll have more to report on this, I imagine.

Johnnyboy

I have updated the current trip photos to include several that I took yesterday. I think they are an accurate commentary on Me?ugorje, from the banal to the sublime. One is picture of the ceiling in my flat, as seen when lying on my bed. I thought is was an interesting play of light, shadow, and architecture.

I will be at home, in my house, in Somewheresville, Anywhere County, on August 6th. So I leave here in about 2 1/2 weeks and then 4 days in Budapest. I am hoping to get some good pictures there, especially in the Statue Park Museum outside the city. It is a big open space where the government has sent all the old Stalinist and other communist monoliths that used to pervade the area. It is open to the public. I am hoping for partly cloudy conditions to add to the dynamic.

This weekend is the second, and probably last, AA meeting in Mostar. Since I covered this pretty well in a previous post, I won’t belabor you all with the political details. I will post an update on the outcome.

Next weekend I have reservations in a small hotel in the town of Jajce (Yai-yeets-say), which was one of Tito’s favorite haunts. It is situated at the meeting of two rivers, and there is a real, honest-to-god waterfall in the town square.

During the war Jajce was the site of heavy fighting, changing hands several times between the three armies. The Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats blew it up, including the Turkish style home. Eventually the Bosnian Croats captured it and kept it. Now it is mostly Bosnian Serb, with a large Bosnian Croat minority and a smaller Bosniak population. It used to be almost all Bosniak. I have heard UNESCO is preparing to step in and take charge, which would mean a re-building of all the old structures, like they did in Po?itelj. So I will stay there for two nights and come back. I leave Me?ugorje the following Saturday morning at 7:30 for Split, Croatia, and then Budapest the day after. All my hotels are booked, as are the flights. All I have to do is show up.

It’s interesting to note that the closer I am to leaving the faster the time goes, like water down the drain…

Johnnyboy