I underestimated what a challenge packing a month's worth of clothes, toiletries, books, and other miscellaneous doo-dads into a carry-on would be. But I can now certainly say, after having to live the past day without the luggage that the airlines lost, I overestimated how much I would actually need. I have been surviving on the charity of my fellow travelers for toiletries and clothes and with my backpack full of books, electronics, and outlet converters. The airport was ripe for an encounter with many different cultures, languages, and stresses. Unfortunately, the latter tends to disrupt the anxious traveler from considering the opportunity in observing the former two. However, the long flights from airport to airport and the layovers between them provided ample time for me to reflect on not only my readings for the day but also on the entirely new experiences I was having as a solo international traveler.
Beyond the geographic transition, Machiavelli's The Prince began to bring to mind the political transition I would be making from America to Turkey and Greece, and even stopping in England. In his letter to Lorenzo de Medicci, Machiavelli focuses primarily on principalities, which by European standards, makes sense because that is all he had every really encountered. Coming from America's democratic society, my mind would have to make a leap from the organization of the republic to that of the monarchy, from a people-centered government to a leader-centered one. This shift becomes very apparent in Machiavelli's perspective on the values and goals of a ruler. The concern for justice, truth, and equality that is stressed by modern democratic societies today are swept aside as he delves into what makes a ruler a successful one, and those qualities can vary from the traditional view of what is good and bad. As I continue to finish the book, I hope to begin to understand his rationality of adopting such an unconventional method beyond one of promoting the leader's self-interest.
Biblical Heritage (Kamm 5,9, Genesis 1-11, Psalms 1,2, 8, 19)
Temporarily adopting a nomadic nature of traveling from college, back home, and now across the country these last few days seems to me to be an appropriate introduction to the Israelites, a group of people who had been wanderers since the birth of their religion. In Genesis 1-11, we see the beginning of this history of traveling with the driving out of Adam and Eve east of Eden, God's punishment of Cain and his descendants to be fugitives always wandering, the wiping out of the population with Noah's flood, the generations after Noah that spread across the world, and the Tower of Babel that scattered them all over the Earth with new languages. This trend leaves a defining legacy for the Jews today as constant persecution has driven their people both out of their Holy Land and out of communities across the world, causing a diaspora that leaves them longing for their home in Jerusalem. After two days of seats without leg-room and lost luggage, I had a very similar longing for the comforts of home.
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