Monday - March 15, 2004
Spain has no Blood
One of my good friends in Spain taught me a
saying that they have. I don't speak more than a few phrases of Spanish and I
don't pretend to understand their idioms or their culture fully. But this
saying is pretty clear. When someone has heart, when they have moral courage,
when they have character, a Spaniard will say that they "have blood." What a
wonderful phrase! Spaniards have a lot of good sayings like this. Spain is the
nation of fighting bulls, their culture is steeped in imagery of life and death
struggles, of romantic tilts against windmills, and of religious zeal. And of
course they love the tangle of the sexes. In fact, from what I can tell they
combine all these into one temperament simultaneously. A bull fight isn't just
a feat of daring, it is poetry. It's a dance. It's a sexual metaphor. It's
not coincidental that they describe the Sevilliana, one of the more popular
traditional dances, as a bull fight, the man is the torreador, the woman dances
around him as though she were the bull.
Spain has a vivid
culture.
And this is why I can't understand the Spanish
reaction to being bombed by Al Qaeda. They have joined us in this war on
terrorism with good reason. The Islamic fundamentalist murderers have expressed
a desire to return Al Andalus, the Iberian Peninsula, the land of Portugal and
Spain to Islamic rule. They controlled it for 700 years and have been gone for
500 years and they think it's high time they returned. Boabdil was defeated,
but they wish to restore the Kingdom of Granada, and perhaps even the Caliphate
of Cordoba. The Taifas are still Arab provinces in their
minds.
So initially Spain's government,
understanding the real threat against them, joined us in our war. For this I as
an American am eternally grateful. I know that this was unpopular with many of
the people, but most seemed to agree with a proactive defense of their
nation.
But now it appears that one
attack has made them cower. The entire civilized world shares their grief after
the recent murderous bombings, but I'm amazed at the response. When Americans
were attacked, this time at least, we vowed bloody and terrible revenge with the
goal of ending the threat against us. When Spain is attacked their response
appears to be to blame their own
leaders.
Spain has no
blood.
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