Saturday, August 1, 2009

Backgammon in the park....

We went to the ocean bluffs this afternoon.......lovely day, sun just starting to throw shadows of looong palm trees across the grassy areas... the ocean sparkling with white sailboats.
I approached two young (and handsome!) men sitting on the grass playing backgammon. I told them I loved the game, too, and said it's kind of in my blood..........They asked my ancestry and I told them and I asked the darker complected of the two (the REALLY handsome one!) "What are YOU?"
"Persian," he replied. I asked the very blue-eyed fellow "Are you American?"
"Israeli!" he replied, smiling up at me. ummm A Persian and an Israeli...both about 35.
"Well, isn't THAT.....NIIIICE!" I responded. Would that the whole world could be like these two guys, huh? When we were walking back to our car after having had a little stroll, we passed them and the Persian caught my eye and smiled and waved. I told Mr. Z I wished we could have stayed and talked politics with them. (I think!)
z

11 comments:

MathewK said...

Perhaps he's not a muslim persian, there are those who have no hatred of Jews.

Z said...

that's part of why I wanted to sit and talk but we hadn't the time.......
still, I sensed they got the unusualness of their friendship, too....If the guy was Muslim, he was VERY modernized,...
WHO KNOWS? Maybe I'll be lucky enough to see them and ask. He could have been Christian, too.........I just LOVED the whole thing!

DaBlade said...

Muslim persians have been known to play backgammon with severed heads.

Anonymous said...

Cougar alert! ;-)

Ducky's here said...

Perhaps he's not a Likud Jew, there are those who have no hatred of Muslims.

David Wyatt said...

Interesting, Z. I have thought about the original 12 disciples of Jesus. Among them, Matthew was a tax collector, taking taxes from his Jewish countrymen & giving them to the Romans. Then there was another of the 12 who was a zealot, a radical Jewish group that was committed to forcibly take Israel out from under Roman control. Under other circumstances, the zealot would likely have killed Matthew, but IN CHRIST, they were unified by faith in Him. (Gal.3:28). Thanks for sharing this, Z!

Z said...

great comment, David..thanks for that

sue said...

I enjoyed your description of the scenery in the first few lines of your post. We here in Central Illinois have nothing like that.

Z said...

Thanks, Sue..that's very kind of you.
Ya, I figured it's pretty foreign for other parts of the country!

Z said...

Sue! We must have been typing at the same time to each other. I saw this post had 8 comments, I typed mine, and saw it suddenly said 10! I didn't realize you'd JUST left yours the second I must have come on!

Good to see you here.

Susannah said...

Lovely!
I facilitated a Sunday school lesson just this week on Numbers 13 & 14. (It's the "Susannah Wesley" class @ our church - aka the little old ladies' class. OH, but they are my wise Darlings!!) Anyway, in these chapters, the Israelites have just seen the "Promised Land" for the first time. It was the Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Canaanites, etc. land (aka Persian-ites). We all know how that story played out, so many centuries ago. These people's issues go back further than our culture has memory...

At any rate, also in our church is a delightful family - sincerely, devout Christians - & the Dad was born/raised in Beirut. It takes all kinds, folks!