the scent of the moon

Somewhere in some of the finest reportage ever written, OF A FIRE ON THE MOON, the piece's author, novelist Norman Mailer, remarks on the absence of odor. In a reader's letter to the periodical that published the piece, Mailer gets confuted. There was an odor, specifically, the aroma of "Presbyterian sanctity".

Maybe, those of us with a developed olfactory sense for metaphor would demur with the novelist and that reader. If there had been anything in that lunar project that reeked, it was that first message from the moon to the earth, specifically, and I'm quoting, "the eagle has landed".

. . . okay, so I can be a little slow on the uptake. In this case, it took me nearly two decades to become aware of the scent of macho TOP GUN "need for speed". If it were possible to merchandise it in an after-shave balm, maybe, the appropriate brand logo would be "homoerotique" with an umlaut over the "e". The cable channel commercial for the brand could feature beautiful young men, playing volleyball bare chested.

Oh, my dear Lord, NO! Once again, my snide sense of humor snuk down and slid through my teeth, ah, in a manner of expression. And I wonder how (?) come I have no friends.

Besides reeking, that first message from the moon to the earth also conveyed an iota of underlying braggadocio, and I'm quoting, "From now on in, whenever people on earth gaze up at the moon, they'll be gazing up at a monument to American technology, ultimately to the United States of America."

Let's entertain the notion of a first message from the moon to the earth, which was redolent of frankincense and myrrh. I submit such a message would, most likely, have had as its text, and I'm quoting, "In the glory of the heavens, wherein Allah reigns supreme, His Qu'ran and our calendar are as one".

Elsewhere, I've avowed that, within a narrow window of history, Islam was compelled to choose between mutually exclusive alternatives. Choosing one meant obviating the other. The narrow window of history stretched from the end of the Second World War in Europe to the United Nations' partition of Palestine. The mutually exclusive alternatives were either reach for the moon or cling to the Temple Mount.

Reaching for the moon involved welcoming those Jews, who had survived the Holocaust, and were seeking a new life in Palestine. The very initiation of opposition to this migration obviated reaching for the moon.

. . . maybe, I'm inserting just a tad too much concept to be absorbed on the first reading . . . to that, I say "So (?) what! . . . as I've written elsewhere . . . "my blog, my rules" . . . so, here's the possibly excessive concept . . . get ready for it . . . "ISLAM BLEW OFF A 'ONCE-IN-A-MILLENNIUM' OPPORTUNITY".

Here in the beginning of the 21st century and centuries to come, Islam must bear up under two ignominies. One being, the religious observance of the Faithful relies on the timetable that's determined by the phases of a monument to American infidel technology, ultimately to the infidel United States of America. The other,which is best considered in sheer SECULAR terms, the Temple Mount has all the significance of a consolation prize.

Apropos of that latter ignominy, I should like to issue a challenge. Show me the sapsucker, who rejoices in the ownership of a consolation prize, and I'll show you a "sorry ass" loser.

. . . ya'know, now that I think about it . . . maybe, the moon itself exudes macho TOP GUN "need for speed", and will for centuries to come . . . oh, br'dah, talk about ignominy!

toodles
...../
.he who is known as sefton

. . . oh, let's let the last item in the scavenger hunt with regard to the "average" Palestinian . . .

Suppose one posits that my comment about the average Palestinian is true, then what? Well, for one thing, it would be a good guess that, metaphysically at least, that would bear significantly on how the parties, whom circumstances will per force assemble, should proceed in negotiating a settlement between Palestinian and Israeli.

. . . oh, yeah, just to remind you, good Reader, about what I'm conjecturing about the so-called Palestinian. In spite of all the news coverage given, over the years, to such a person, the average Palestinian remains a recondite being.

And yet, I go out on a limb by remarking that the average Palestinian would more readily concede Israel's right to exist than admit the failure to sieze a "once-in-a-millennium" opportunity.

. . . ya'know, one might speculate about the motivation behind the attempt by that assassinated Jordian monarch to reach a rapprochement with the Jews. Maybe, he was trying to salvage as much as was possible from that once-in-a-millennium opportunity. Right now, only God has any chance to ask the man to either confirm or deny . . .