THE CURMUDGEON CHRONICLE - #275

THE CURMUDGEON CHRONICLE ©

AN IRREVERENT VIEW


Time Line: June 2, 2010
Date Line: Chicago IL

You can’t expect things to last forever. Sometimes a moment seems like ….forever. Al and Tipper Gore have defined forever as 40 years.

Our country has had its difficulties with defining forever. A treaty signed with the Cherokee said they could hold their lands in North Carolina and its environs “forever”. When asked what “forever” meant, the response was something like, “For as long as the winds shall blow and the grass shall grow: (or thirty days, whichever comes first.”)
Countries make and break treaties for reasons of expedience.

Thus: trade, mutual protection against the common enemy, the end of a conflict, or the division of a sphere of influence, can give birth to a promise of “forever”. We have seen all of those reasons employed in the past century and I calculate that “forever” means about 45 years give or take 15%.

Our country has lots of treaties some of which do not speak in terms of “forever” but in terms of expedience. Like the nuclear arms treaty, some of them are couched in terms of how to control each Power’s power. Some are self limiting, like environmental treaties and trade treaties. Some are mere moves in a chess game like the treaty between North and South Korea and the one between Israel and Egypt.

Finally, there are hybrid treaties that deal with expedients despite deep underlying cultural, religious, and ethnic differences, and old hatreds like the one between Israel and Turkey.

Israel and Turkey are strange bedfellow. They are “trading partners” to the extent of about $3 billion of declared transactions and an unknown sum from dealings under the table. Both countries are past masters in the area of such practices and respect each other’s abilities. Money does not make friendship, no matter how much is at stake. Consider the latest goof-up on the world’s stage.

Israel launched a well advertised commando raid on a Turkish humanitarian relief flotilla (THRF) in International waters. If you consider: 1] that the parties knew about the THRF and were aware of Israel’s blockade; 2] that Israel is seriously capable of killing opposition fighters; 3] that Turkey is a militant country with an Islamic population and friendships; you’d think that Israel and Turkey would have discussed this thoroughly and prepared for the consequences by making sure that there were no consequences. That’s what treaties are all about.

We don’t know whether there were such discussions. We only know that another “forever” is on the verge of collapse, reducing the average life of its fellows to 40 years, (give or take 15%).

Which brings us back to the Gore family. Are Al and Tipper a model couple? They raised their kids, worked for worthy causes, and gave of themselves to the community. Now as seniors they have tried to stay within the mainstream’s boundaries and definitions. That is as reasonable a basis to qualify them as models as are the bases for some treaties in world politics.

If 40 years is forever in dealings among nations it is probably a reasonable period for humans who have lost the desire to remain together. Most people are not fortunate enough to have an uninterrupted forty years of each others’ company. Is forty years enough time to share things like mutual admiration, affection, passion, and the joy of living?

I don’t know my own ‘forever” point but I am certain that before I launch a commando raid I am going to ask for my wife’s permission.

Howard Stamer