Ariel Sharon, Pat Robertson, and Free Association

Ariel Sharon, Pat Robertson, and Free Association

Wednesday
I read the "Jerusalem Journal" an e-journal written by an acquaintance who lives in Israel. She writes about Ariel Sharon, his stroke, and the stress it's causing in her country.

Thursday
I'm sitting in San Sai waiting on an order of California Rolls and teriyaki chicken. On the wall a flat screen TV streams CNN news muted. A thin band of words roll across the bottom of the screen. I see Ariel Sharon's name. A few minutes later, a man with white hair speaks to the camera.
"I know him," I say to myself studying his low brow-line and round nose. Suddenly, a name pops into my head -- Pat Robertson.

Saturday
As I'm cooking breakfast, Dwayne sits on the living room floor leafing through the LA Times. He hollers into the kitchen, "Christin, do you know who Pat Robertson is?"
"Yeah."
"Do you know who Ariel Sharon is?"
"Yeah,"
"Well, Pat Robertson's saying he's had his stroke because God's punishing him for dividing God's land."
Later, I read Robertson's exact words on CNN: "He was dividing God's land, and I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America...God says, 'This land belongs to me, you'd better leave it alone.'"

Wednesday (Three weeks earlier)
I'm sitting in a seminar about children's literature. Next to me, Amy, my modern orthodox (Jewish) friend, clicks away on her laptop. The class is having a discussion about high school reading lists. We're discussing _Lord of the Flies_, _The Great Gatsby_, and other 9th Grade classics.
One woman with red hair raises her hand. "We recently had to remove _Catcher and the Rye_ from our 9th grade reading list because a group of Christian parents boycotted it."
The room hums in disappointment. I'm disappointed too.
"Those are your people," Amy says shouldering me with a wink, but when she sees I'm disappointment she pauses. She looks thoughtfully for a moment then says, "But that's not how their supposed to be, right?"