Reaching

Following is a power point presentation given as an example of a six minute speech for a public speaking class I co-taught for teens in 2013:

Have you ever thought you were familiar enough with something 

that understanding it was within your reach, 

only to later discover you really didn’t know anything? 

 The key to knowing is how we respond to stumbling upon new information, 

and whether or not we have “intellectual curiosity”.

There are three categories to the human thought process:

Those who think they know

Those who want to know

and 

"Them what don’t know they don’t know"

Let’s explore intellectually reaching for knowledge ~ 

when curiosity becomes a hunger. 

I refer to effort, and focus, and personal risk. 

Why risk? 

Because we might not understand something even if we try! 

Or, we might be intimidated by “experts” 

who know a heck of a lot more than we ever could. 

However, it’s the reaching for knowing that makes all the difference.

 Last year I went somewhere I had heard about my entire life.

I’d seen a million pictures of it, 

read books, looked at maps, saw movies, heard other people talk about going there,  

it was in the news all the time - 

I felt comfortably familiar with that place. 

I assumed I could go there and anticipate what it would be like. 

Can you guess where I went?

Nothing 

absolutely nothing 

could have prepared me 

for

ISRAEL 

where vast and storied civilizations had come and gone 

for over 7,000 years. 

It was a RUSH - to be in the same place where once were conquering 

Roman legions

or Byzantine elites       

or the reclusive sect who left us the 

Dead Sea Scrolls

 or at the iconic places traditionally associated to timeless 

and beloved Biblical events . . .

The point is 

I could talk - or gush - for days and days about viewing precious

Paleolithic and Iron Age artifacts 

in freaking person,

 or how thrilling it was to be in 

Old City Jerusalem 

listening spell-bound to almost every language on the planet 

in that one, crowded, colorful, 

enormously textured place.

The fatal tipping-point for me 

in realizing how an intellectual grasp

 of this place was profoundly beyond my reach, 

had more to do with 

WALLS. 

Anywhere 

people were anciently

was dedicated wholly to DEFENSE. 

If you wanted to stay alive, 

you planted yourself on top of a rocky, desolate hill with a 360 view

and built a massive 

wall.

 ("The Western Stone" of the original Jerusalem Western Wall weighs around 570 tons)

Next, 

they went to extraordinary lengths to excavate gigantic cisterns 

and tunnels and channels 

by which to store, find or direct life-giving 

WATER. 

Jerusalem cistern

Keeping these golden systems a secret from the enemy was a must. 

But 

when you’re digging straight down to holy bedrock to get water,

 just fetching it on a daily basis 

must have been 

terrifying. 

 Finally, 

 SOUND 

was another wake-up call to my now foreboding sense of 

“intellectual curiosity”. 

In the dry air we could hear sound carry great distances with shocking clarity. 

I was struck 

by how horrifying it would have been to hear every clank of armor, 

the rumbling wheels from heavy supply carts 

and 

the drone of thousands of footsteps coming closer, and closer...

The Destruction of Jerusalem lithograph by David Roberts 1849

 Can you imagine living in a day when armed conflict meant either 

annihilation or slavery? 

It was a dramatic REACH for me to imagine myself having children, 

baking bread and getting water 

in a world so terribly well-acquainted with DEATH. 

Yet whole civilizations - over and over again for over 7,000 years 

did this with absolutely no variation. 

We have nothing to compare it to in this hemisphere.

And now, here is where the real REACHING begins:

While this is Israel:

 So is this:

 This is an ancient land who’s glorious birthright literally 

is Blood and Conflict. 

I wanted to understand.

There are no simple answers to resolve anything! 

The issues are deeply complex 

and confusing. 

 Passion runs deep and inflexible.

In this case it doesn’t seem to matter how much I want to know: 

my intellectual curiosity almost hurts 

because I want the answers so badly. 

Our 2013 American culture of relative ease and security 

is a little distracted ~

from giving time to anything of real significance 

 or relevance.

 Maybe part of reaching for familiarity in things 

which are difficult to understand 

is an important aspect of 

“knowing”.

I appreciate my sense of natural curiosity. 

Because I want to know, 

I ask questions. I read. I observe. 

I am willing to be open to other viewpoints, 

and I hope other people try to understand mine. 

I also appreciate accessible water like never before!

And you know what? 

I wish I could go back. 

Jerusalem From The Mount of Olives lithograph by David Roberts 1841

If I ever could, 

I would tell that place I am sorry I underestimated her!

Damascus Gate lithograph by David Roberts 1839

 I would tell every pinkish limestone 

 and every dusty goat path and twisted olive tree 

that I will not make that same mistake again.

If I ever see Jerusalem again,

 I will find a spot to sit 

and listen 

to what her iconic walls are breathing to the world - 

 because 

it really is true that 

“all roads lead to Jerusalem”. 

Turns out her sheer historicity is too large to grasp in one sitting - or ever!

But the reaching part

oh, that’s the 

best.