The Passion.

Good morning shortus, and welcome to A2K. That's a very stark piece of writing, and quite unsettling, but I do suppose that what you were aiming for. I don't quite understand some of your allusions, however.

I think I get it...are you Jewish, shortus? I am, and haven't heard the word 'Shoah' in quite a while.

Cav, I haven't seen the movie, nor do I intend to do so, but I think the hue and cry of antisemitism was overblown. Jesus was a jew; the hierarchy of the ruling elders were all Jewish, and it was just politics, plain and simple.

Mrs. cav would agree with you Letty, having seen the film. I was just trying to get an understanding of the poem, and the words used.

So was I, Cav. But although I wasn't familiar with the words, I did sense that they were Jewish.

Thanks for your welcome.
Thank you for welcoming me to your lovely site.

Just as you are the sons and daughters of the Puritan Elect, I am the child of the Scottish and English Enlightenment.

Our homes are on different Continents. Your day is my night. Your summer is my winter and our heads point in opposite directions.

We are bound by three Treaties. A Land Treaty, a Military Treaty and an Economic Treaty. The treaty over our shared land is called the Antarctic Treaty. The military treaty is called the ANZUS Treaty and the economic treaty is called the Free Trade Agreement.

We give different social signals about dominance and submission and this leads to inevitable and endless misunderstandings. Still, we are staunch allies and fight side by side.

I am delighted to be welcomed to your site.

Torie.

Postscript: the most important part of the poem 'The Passion' was for me the insight that it is payback. For a decade the Church feels it has been viciously attacked by accusations of child, sexual abuse and it has bided its time and struck back with a medieval, passion play to excite our deepest fears about rejection by the father. In fact fears so deep that they can only be assauged by the blood sacrifice of an innocent.

Patient and brilliant payback. We could expect no less.

shortus, now all becomes clear. You're Presbyterian, then, I suppose.

Dear Letty,

No, I am not the slightest bit Presbyterian. However we do have Presbyterians at the end of the street and I like them.

North America was settled about 400 years ago by Puritans and Australia was settled about 200 years ago by the Scottish and English Enlightenment.

We are pragmatic and utilitarian. We are influenced by Jeremy Bentham who created Utilitarianism and believed in the "greatest good for the greatest number".

You were settled by Puritans and if there is anything that strikes us on the opposite side of the world is that how ideological you are. This is the Puritan cast of thought, now expressed in therapy and money.

To compare our respective histories, both from the same tree but from quite different branches is fascinating.

We believe in and practise religious freedom but when you get down to it we are interested in what works.

So I am fundamentally Australian. We are a successful multicultural society. We are secular and pragmatic. And we all share a particular sense of humour that improving Puritans find negative even destructive but we find amusing, disarming and enlightening.

A chain of Continents was cast across the earth. A chain of pearls was cast in the oceans. There are four pearls: North America, South America, Antarctica and Australia. You are at one end of the chain and I am at the other. We are bound by history and geography. We should get to know one another.

Torie.

shortus, When you say "we" are you speaking for Australia or your religious beliefs?

Yes, I suppose America is based on the Puritan ethic, but to tell you the truth, I sorta lost you somewhere amidst those chain of pearls.

Aside: Very slow today. Not certain if it's my PC, or what.