“the thing with feathers”

There they are—right there in the paper! See? Our students are posed with His Majesty in a great, big, juicy picture in The Jordan Times from a couple days ago when the King delivered an address at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, in the Garden State itself, in the lovely U. S. of A.

Last week at this time I was helping Hamzah pack his suitcase for his trans-atlantic flight to the USA. His Majesty had asked to take nine of our students for a 10-day trip to New York and Washington, D.C. and Hamzah was one of the nine lucky students (No—I wasn’t asked to be a chaperone! The Royal Court I guess had enough people to shepherd our nontet around two of my favorite cities in the world.). Not only had Hamzah never left the borders of Jordan before, he had never been to an airport, so it is probably not treading into hyperbole too much to say that traveling with the King and Queen, enjoying visits to the UN, the White House, dinner with Michael Bloomberg, and The Lion King has been a trip of a lifetime.

I look forward to their return this weekend to us, and hopefully to the prospect that there might be a Guest Blogger who might share some impressions of the United States for my friends and family here. But while I await news of their trip, I had to type up some of the speech His Majesty delivered at Princeton. By the way, if you want to read a story about his speech, and a picture of him with some of our students, you can visit the Princeton website:
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S20/43/17M49/index.xml?section=featured

I remember last year at this time, just days after I had accepted the job to come to KA, His Majesty delivered a stirring speech to a joint session of the United States Congress. I remember reading the speech, amazed at the beauty and passion of his prose. It made me quite proud to think I would help bring to fruition his dream of a school that strives to prepare young people to be more responsible global citizens. From the tone of the Princeton website news, it must have been quite an electric feeling sitting in the hall, hearing his words. I imagine our students, all Arabs, commingling with the American college kids, giving proof to the idea that hope is not too far-fetched.

I took the transcript of the King’s speech and edited it for your reading pleasure. This is about 35% of his overall speech. I am sure it is available on-line if you wish to read it in its entirety. As you read these words, please keep in mind the images you may be getting from CNN or other sources of the escalating violence in Gaza, not a long journey from where I sit typing away:


Fifty-seven countries are not at peace with Israel today. Fifty-seven countries out of 193 countries in the world. Fifty-seven countries with a total population greater than Europe and the United States combined. Fifty-seven countries for whose citizens the conflict in Palestine is the issue of their time.

We must, therefore, ask the important question: What are the implications for global stability if this continues?

2008 is a critical year—yes, at long last, this year right now, we are in the best possible position to resolve 60 years of conflict between Israel and Palestine…and demand freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people.

But time is running out and we need the United States of America completely involved to influence the course of discussions. . . .I am here to explain that such a commitment is an opportunity to transform the strategic landscape of the Middle East for years to come.

I know that optimism does not come easily to academia. But I know about the visionary thinking that is the scholar’s gift. Today, I ask you to employ visionary thinking to consider a short- and long-term strategy that will ensure a viable, stable, and prosperous Middle East region and a safe and secure world for all.

I pose these questions for your consideration: Will my region plunge into more chaos and violence, where extremism rules? Or will it be a peaceful, developing region? Will it be a region that rejects Western alliances, perhaps violently, because they have become far too difficult to achieve? Or will it be a region that is a global partner in progress and prosperity with the West? The choice is ours. But we must act and time is running out.

The wellspring of global division, the source of resentment and frustration within the region and far beyond is the denial of justice and peace in Palestine. America is the only world power capable of ensuring that the parties stay on track and on in time in their current negotiations.

But time is running out.

You will all know that historically, success in Middle East peacemaking was achieved when the United States stepped in and drove the negotiations. Division and hatred have eroded understanding and agreement. Every day another child in my region grows up with frustration and hatred in his or her eyes. Every day young people lose hope because they cannot get jobs and they cannot see opportunities.

Speaking here today I am especially aware of the role of scholars and students in making progress happen. Where others see unsolvable problems, you see paths that can lead to answers and successful action. This is the tradition of great scholarship of which you are a part.

I should like to conclude by drawing from the wisdom of the great American after whom this school is named. Woodrow Wilson said: “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together. There must be, not a balance of power, but a community of power; not organized rivalries, but an organized peace.” This is the challenge, this is the opportunity and we must succeed.

What a writer! There are many passages I liked—but this one produces the biggest lump in my throat—Every day young people lose hope…

I am pretty sure if I went back through the three-score blogs I have pecked out in the last seven months, I think at one time I quoted an Emily Dickinson poem that always has moved me. Here is that poem:

Hope
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune—without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.


Dickinson writes that the bird “sings.” Is this a good or a bad thing? However, the tune is “without words.” So, then is ‘hope’ simply a matter of words, or is it a feeling about the future, a feeling which consists both of desire and expectation? Psychologically, is it true that hope never fails us, that hope is always possible? Even in the storm? In the coldest land?

At the heart of King Abdullah’s speech is his vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle the concrete problems of the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy. It is a vigorous search for connection—a foundation of a radically hopeful consensus.

The bird—faithful and unabashed—follows and sings to the speaker (“I've heard it”) under the worst, the most threatening of circumstances. Even in those most dire circumstances the bird never asked for even a “crumb” in return for its support.

Think of the potential here—the potential of that storm certainly, and the threat of how it may “abash” that fragile “thing with feathers”—that wrenches us back to the reality of the staggering problems of the world. But there is inherent such potential of a new vision.

Those nine students gathered around His Majesty—there they are. Let’s see what they do with their songs.