Baptism in the Jordan River
Originally uploaded by Jane Rubio.
So I finally went. But not to Palestine, to Jordan. We went to the Jordan river. See Christine babtizing me. I got to be Jesus. She was John the Baptist.
You can see where the height of the water used to be. It's very little now. Part of the reason is that Israel has diverted it for itself. (Israel likes to take other people's water--see "Khiam".)
I could look over into Palestine. There was a Jordanian soldier there and all along the river were wires that the South Carolina, just-finished-a-year-stint-doing-security-in-Iraq, dude told us were military communications stuff.
The other place where I got to look over to Palestine was from Mt. Nebo. This is where Moses got to see the Promised Land. He couldn't go in, though, because he disobeyed God. He's buried somewhere on that mountain. It was really, really "moving" "deep" (why can't I make this sound not trite?). It was just too symbolic. If I were Lebanese or Syrian, this would be the closest I could get to the Holy Land. I kept thinking of all the Christians and Muslims I know who can't go to Israel. And here I am standing as close as they'll get--the site of Moses's punishment.
Of course, I'm not punished, though, I have the blue passport. It's let's me get into anywhere. (Except for Saudi Arabia, but I'll try to work on that.) We couldn't see Jerusalem. It was too cloudy. Apparently at night, you can see the lights.
For pictures of Jordan, including the amazing city of Petra, (think Indiana Jones), go to
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