"Desperate Land" Word from: Alieza

Speaking of Russia (well, its a loose connection anyways), I just saw some Moscow style circus performers in Jerusalem. Last week the Jerusalem municipality set up a Circus Stage in the middle of Kikar Zion, the heart of Jersualem. Trapeze artists stood out starkly against the night sky in silver and yellow. The trapeze and the high wire were all strung up above the hard pavement of the Midrachov, there was no net, no padding. Two men danced with fire. It looked like their very arms were on fire, windmills spinning to an electric trance beat.

I was thinking about the circus the next day as I was reading the newspaper. Sitting in a 70's themed coffee shop in Jerusalem, "The End" from the Doors blares. I'm reading about bombs in England, Egypt, Iraq; Orange wearing hippies simply believe a miracle will stop the disengagement; The Christian Right sends a traveling billboard exhibit of bloody corpses from Rwanda juxtaposed to aborted fetuses around Europe; Growing Messianic Aliyah; Anti-Semitism in France; Sharon's son indicted; A group of Rabbis curse Sharon and expect him to die in 30 days; The "Apocalypse Now" sound track is sounding eerily appropriate.

I can't help but feel that this frenetic energy of the circus in the street all comes back to the world spiraling into the abyss: their need to light up the night with their bodies and their very hands, to fly through the air with no thought of falling, no thoughts of tomorrow. If a comet of red fire was burning its way into the atmosphere, would you overcome your fears, jump on it's back, and ride it into the darkness for as long as you can?

The ride is exhilarating; but be careful there is no padding in this country.