A nice non-denominational tale. In fact, you shouldn’t be surprised that this wee story is offered by a crusty, old atheist like me. Hopefully, we ALL believe in giving this child and his parents a chance to live in a better world.
A baby has just been born in Bethlehem and, while the birth might not quite have the same global impact of its illustrious predecessor, for Jane and me it was our own modest miracle.
Based as journalists in the disputed city of Jerusalem, the arrival of our first child posed a dilemma, as where the baby would be born had implications.
Some ex-pat friends of ours, about to have a child, chose to fly all the way home to the United States rather than risk problems downstream.
They were fearful that, without a tectonic shift in Middle East politics, their child would find travel in the Arab world problematic with a passport giving Israel as place of birth.
We simply wanted to find the hospital with the best facilities, that would make Jane feel the most comfortable.
Rather unexpectedly, the one that won us over was in Bethlehem.
Our Israeli – that is to say Jewish – friends thought us quite mad for opting to have the baby in Bethlehem.
One Jerusalemite I spoke to became quite indignant.
“Jewish health care is among the best in the world,” she said. Why would you want to go to an Arab hospital? Do they even have the right equipment?”
Her words spoke volumes about the mistrust between the Holy Land’s oldest and yet most divided peoples.
Today, the city of Jerusalem is claimed by Israel but the border with occupied Palestinian land lies just beyond the city limits.
Bethlehem, home to thousands of Palestinians (both Muslim and, perhaps not surprisingly, Christian) is close enough to the city to be a suburb. But it lies on the other side of that border, a border that is now marked by the Jerusalem Wall, the concrete curtain erected by Israel, it claims, to protect against suicide bombers.
All this meant that, when the moment came, Jane and I would have to cross an Israeli army checkpoint to reach the maternity hospital.
I cannot deny this caused me some worry.
As it turned out, we got away with it.
Jane gurned, I wept and Kit Patrick joined us after 22 hours of labour.
To me, peacock proud, Kit was perfect but, as he snuffled on his mother’s chest and took his first bleary view of the world, could I detect a world-weary gleam of resignation in his blue eyes?
They seemed to be saying:
“Come on, Dad. You’ve given me a lifetime of mickey taking. No passport official in the world is going to pass up the chance to remark on my place of birth: Bethlehem.”
Hopefully, by the time Kit is as old as his dad is now [or younger?], his birth town will be a place of peace.
Will the Arabs ever become our friends? That sure seems to be the case now with countries and societies that we’ve fought or had antagonisms with in the past, such as Germany, Japan, China, Vietnam, Russia etc. etc. Sometimes I wonder if anyone ever asked that question during those conflicts, when emnity was the norm. I remember, for example, during the Southeast Asia war an awful lot of people here thought they were just a hopelessly oppressive, violent culture. Now rice grows again in Vietnam (that’s the title, btw, of an excellent song by Bruce Cockburn. Check it out).
What a sad tired bummer it is to always seem to have to go sock! pow! wham! bang! with them, only to find out afterwards that, hey, these people really aren’t that bad after all… they’re smart, and interesting… also possible business partners (or rivals in that, too… whatever).
“Peace cannot be kept by force, only achieved through understanding.” – Einstein
anything is better than MY place of birth: Berkeley, CA!!!
There is one obvious disadvantage to your choice: your child suffers from the handicap that he will never be able to become the President of the United States of America.
John, you said that you were a
“Disenchanted Catholic” not an atheist.
DCs have only lost their faith in the
Disturbingly Corrupt
Disingenious Church
that is
Dangerous to Children,
that
Distributes Cash
to
Discourage Courtroom
“Deviate” Convictions.
Both journalists are based in Jerusalem. It is a holy land for Jews, Muslims, and Christians. The “concern” expressed by the parents seems unwarranted. Palestinians are also born there. What would their passports say when the move around Middle East?
When Palestine was unilaterally divided by the UN (without asking Muslims and Christians living there) into unequal halves with the bigger portion going to European migrants, Jerusalem was to be put international adminstration.
Israel illegally occupied Jerusalem, just as they occupied whatever land that was meant for Palestinians.
Mike — always look just under the title of the post. You’ll see who’s posting. It’s my post, not John’s.
What a heartwarming article! I am a pastor, who googled “Born in Bethlehem” — and found your inspiring story! I don’t think you’re crusty.