Let us join all our voices together, So they can hear it all over old town. It does not make our singing much better, But I would like to see them shoot us down, For this is the place, and the right moment For us to declare, “This is our kingdom!” After our youthful energy in spent, We will worry about the rest to come:
The night sky brightly burning with rockets, Making explosions with their collisions, Deadly shrapnel that their union begets, Marking the hated countries’ derision.
But why should I bother way over here, Singing karaoke without a care.
On Sunday, April 14th, I was supposed to get up early to take a flight back to my home in Amman, Jordan. We were going to catch an early bus in Bratislava to take the short trip to Vienna’s airport for a four hour flight. It was supposed to be a pretty routine way to end a vacation, but we got a little surprise that morning. Our flight home had been cancelled. In fact, it had been cancelled the next day as well, so rebooking became even more complicated. It all came down to the fact that Jordan’s neighbors decided to extend their bickering over the country’s airspace, and the night sky was covered with rockets exploding into each other. No one was hurt, but pilots did not want to fly into that mess. Jordan was kind enough to close their airspace, so there would be no excuse for a corporate executive to think otherwise. I tended to agree with the decisions, but it meant that I needed to figure out what to do to get back home, and find a place to stay in Vienna until I could find that route back.
First off, I would like to say that Austrian Airlines was spectacular. They found a few connecting flights, and I was only delayed by twenty-four hours to get back home. The company also hooked us up with an Ibis hotel room and vouchers for bus fare there, dinner, and breakfast. It set me up for a nice afternoon in a city I was not expecting to visit on this trip.
I also have to point out that my job was very understanding as well. Of course, they couldn’t be any other way. It was during one of the school’s breaks, and there were a lot of teachers that were stuck in various places all over the world. This also extended to students and their families, so they could not do anything but be understanding.
I really did enjoy my afternoon in Vienna. We were able to spend the day with other teachers that were also stranded there as well. At the same time, it was a little bittersweet. Friends who decided to stay behind sent footage of the war happening overhead that they could see from their balconies. I had a hard time, not thinking about the innocent people that lived below the two bickering countries. It blew my mind that they could think of nothing other than the retribution that they wanted to deliver to one another, and not how it affected the people whose involvement in was either non-existent or minimal at best. Though I was not physically in the country at the time, it was the closest I had ever been to actual war. It demonstrated that ideological differences aren’t always contained within imaginary lines, that sometimes they have to make a show of brute force to demonstrate how important that ideology is for them. In the end, it proved nothing except who could throw a bigger temper tantrum.
Needless to say, living in Jordan over the past year has been interesting, and this is just another story to add to the many I have already encountered. It makes me hope that someday soon we can come to a peaceful solution that allows all parties to feel comfortable so we can avoid these sophomoric displays of power. Granted, I earned another day of vacation out it, and in one of the world’s most beautiful cities, but I would rather find that other solution instead.
Thanks for listening to my rant, and maybe next time, we can find that solution that we are all looking for.
John Collings 