Country

I sat down to write this short post and as I did so I thought to open it with a disclaimer. I wanted to open the disclaimer “It’s been a year since we’ve left Israel … ” and then I thought to check the date and found that it is November 8th and at around this time (8am) we were either in or near the plane on our way to Romania. So …

Disclaimer1: It’s been (exactly) a year since we left Israel and though it has been a trying journey, we haven’t looked back since. I have said numerous times that though we now live in Romania I don’t feel any more a member of Romania then I did of Israel. I now live in my own small country Bhudeva surrounded by other people who live in a village called Mociu surrounded by a few other neighboring villages. We try to consume mostly local products, some things we get from the nearest city (Cluj Napoca) and some things from all around the world. Countries, to me, signify costly shipping and in some cases taxes.

Disclaimer2: We don’t have any media at home – no newspapers, no radio and no TV. We do have access (though still limited – we are hoping to have full access soon) to the Internet. Occassionally headlines from the world reach me indirectly through blogs that I read and occassionally I visit news sites and sample a few headlines. That is my only source of news and my reflections and observations come from that stream.

I have said numerous times that when we left Israel we didn’t just leave a country we left country altogether. We have left social security, health care and probably other infrastructures that make up a modern day “country”. We are also trying to leave (as much as possible) money and modern day economics.

Everywhere I look I seem to see countries in trouble. Israel, USA, EU countries, Arab countries, Far east countries (I am not interested enough to go back and make a detailed list). Some are troubled by internal unrest, some by political or social unrest, some by financial unrest, some by natural disasters. Though almost all of them have some form of outside enemy … most seem to be under attack from within. It is as if their own core (defacto!) values are being amplified into an extreme reality that is turning against them. It seems they are being torn up by internal unrest more then by external unrest.

Looking at both an alternative life we are trying to create and at countries all over the world, I can’t help but wonder if countries are a sustainable life mechanism? Are they becoming obsolete? How long will it take to arrive in a future where there are no countries? How much suffering and destruction will be created until we get there (I am confident that when countries do fold they will not go down gracefully but will struggle in vein to their last dying breath)?

I am not saddened by these thoughts, neither am I happy. I am intrigued. On some days I feel a sense of urgency to get some things (which still depend on countries working) done before things collapse. On most days I am at ease that we have made our move in time and that we will be able, through continued hard work, to settle down into a comfortable life before things get messed up.