Fear of the unknown!

There was some, certainly, especially since Isis had threatened terrorist activity in Amman in the weeks previously. However the bus with a load of British Tourists in the main, some colonialists and one or two Americans, drove without incident to the south of Jordan.
All on board welcomed the sight of over 1200 tents indicating the home of refugees, all it appeared well looked after and all, as the local guide had told us, all now Jordanians with the right to work. Only problem is that the  new workers were under-cutting the locals efforts in the workplace. So a quality of life for the  locals might be seen to be threatened by the newcomers.

Then again we Australians have been fed on a sense of fear since it made it much easier for the government  and previous right wing governments to ignore human rights and change laws to suit their intentions rather than the rights of the individual. But....politics is.....

So when I read what Anne Micheals' character, Jakob Beer, said about the sense of fear in the book, Fugitive Pieces, it occurred to me that a better quotation I probably wouldn't find to emphasise my point. This book was Anne's first attempt at novel writing and I must say it is some of the best writing I have ever read anywhere and at any time.

"I learned to tolerate images rising in me like bruises. But in my continuous expectation of the burst door, the taste of blood that filled my mouth suddenly, many times a day, I couldn't conceive of any feeling stronger than fear. What is stronger than fear? Who is stronger than fear?"page 19.

So fear of the unknown would not be what I would wonder about. I decided to look it straight in the eye and act by buying two books at Petra 1. Living with Arabs by Joan Ward and 2. Married to a Bedouin by Marguerite van Geldermalsen. Both people I discovered wanted to experience some excitement in their lives. Joan Ward, a teacher close to retirement from England, discovered and fell in love with the mountains of Petra whereas the nineteen-year-old, a back-packer from Nelson, New Zealand, fell in love with a local Bedouin. Although Joan Ward was not expected to live in a cave, she taught English at Amman and explored life in Petra at weekends. Marguerite, married and had three children, became a Muslim and lived in the culture, inside her husband's cave at the most, and moved to the local village at the behest of the government some years later. Her husband died soon after.

Both books give a good insight into the Muslim culture.

 Seeing I have mentioned Fugitive Pieces by Anne Micheals, I need to write about In The Half Light by Anthony Lawrence. This, also by a first time novel writer, I must say is very impressive and a talent to which many of us can aspire. I have read both books since returning from holidays and feel proud to say that both are books worth re-reading many times. And I keep reminding myself also that both books were bought for $3.00 each at the Save the Children's Book Fund at Belmont W.A. When I can face the recycling of them in the future I will take them back and hope to find two more with writing just as good.