Mystery and Epilogue
I first entered a conflict zone as a journalist in Iraq in 2003. The international invasion had just ended. As my colleagues and I tried to make sense of things, the Jordanian Embassy was attacked … and the United Nations Baghdad headquarters was decimated by a truck bomb. It turned out to be quite tricky to make sense of things. We were witnessing the beginning of a new phase of Iraq’s conflict in the post-Saddam Hussein era.
Soon, I would make my first of five trips to war in Afghanistan … witness upheaval in Pakistan … and report from bombing in Libya.
Some of my NPR colleagues specialize in reporting from conflict zones. It’s a kind of expertise in conflict tourism — not an inappropriate craft necessarily, but they have a particular dexterity in providing (and discovering) perspective about cities or communities beset by war or unrest or dissent or anxiety.
My family recently stayed in one of these cities, just a few blocks from one of its most important and contentious places.
Policemen in plain clothes (carrying black umbrellas like assault rifles) march in full view with uniformed soldiers. Knots of surveillance cameras hang from nearly every light post. Fire extinguishers are placed at even intervals a few feet away from guards standing at attention — perhaps to douse people who try to set themselves on fire?
My point: even my most accomplished colleagues and conflict tour guides have a difficult time conveying all the cultural and historical and political and emotional aspects of complicated sights and sounds.
We do the best we can with our ears, our eyes, our best guesses — and Google — to explain what we’re seeing in China. Much of it, however, is a mystery.
Today — the boys took turns teaching each other Chinese script characters. A fine, illustrated book was our reference book — but how can you really explain thousands of years of history tightly wound up in a few strokes of a calligraphy pen? H chose to share about the word “tail,” because it’s used with another word to convey the idea of “epilogue.” He thought that was really cool.
Who needs a tour guide with that kind of spirit of adventure?
We spent our last afternoon in Beijing at the Temple of Heaven. Apparently, it’s a popular gathering spot among the elderly set for games, conversation, exercise — and singing.
Who knows why a group of a dozen men gathered in a circle around a single music stand to sing a capella? Who knows what they were singing?
I thought it was so cool nonetheless — and it was the latest unexplained mystery on our journey to be so pleasantly vexing.
That guy at the Temple of Heaven is my favorite. Love your thoughts, Jim. Powerful and thought-provoking.