"Athletics as a means to bring forth peace in the Middle East"
Dear ...,
Do you remember, I onced mentioned a well known Russian film-maker, Aleksandr Sokurov, who said: "In war there is no aesthetics and no ethics!"
He was born in a military family and was raised in a closed military Russian town. He was a natural intellectual and read a lot. He enjoyed French literature and was well read.
In one of the interviews he said something along those lines: "We figured out the female nature and how to deal with it, but we have not figured out how to deal with male nature..." And he was blaming women for sending their men to die in wars...
There is something I recommended to Sir H..., but he could not bring it to fruition as he lost his life. Maybe you can publicize this suggestion...
"Athletics as a means to bring forth peace in the Middle East"
The male nature, the competitive, fighting nature, that is allowed to manifest in a relatively friendly manner on a playfield. I told Sir H... to encourage holding joint sports events in the Middle East region. Men like to play soccer and hockey (in colder climates) and other types of competitive games. Bringing men together from "fighting regions" to play, is a good way to settle strife between the nations. That is because men like to compete and be "winners", but in sports it can be done in a friendly manner and also people become friends. By spending time together people get to learn about each and see that as human beings, we are not so different from each other.
I don't think our leadership does enough to promote this idea of competitive sports in the Middle East and maybe they should.
Have a great evening,
Dharia