As I was reading HM’s address,  I was reminded of a recent interaction with a public employee whose actions belied the antithesis of the King’s sentiment.  While waiting for a meeting with a colleague, I observed his young program coordinating lathering herself up into a frenzy over the slow pace of the messenger’s arrival to her desk. The aforementioned program coordinator was a rather lovely young lady with a master’s degree and a reputable family name.  While I was unclear on her precise responsibilities, it was clear that the messenger was needed for urgent work and every second of his absence was clearly a crisis in the making. Finally the poor “sheb” arrived. The messenger was a diminutive man whose dark skin suggested a childhood in the ghor, and he smiled constantly through the barrage emanating from sit program coordinator’s desk: “Where have you been!? I have been calling you for ten minutes. Don’t you know I need toner? I told you this morning I need the toner!”  The messenger continued to smile: “Of course, yes, please remind me where is the toner?”  “THERE” shouted the exasperated program coordinator, jabbing a carefully painted nail at the shelf four desks from hers.  “In the yellow bag, right where I told you it was.”  The messenger dutifully went over to the shelf, examined the distance between his reach and the toner before going into the hall and coming back with a chair.  After carefully positioning the chair, he mounted the seat, retrieved the toner and delivered it five long paces across the office floor to Sit Program Coordinator’s desk. Of course, she had now taken what must have been an equally important phone call and gestured that the toner be left on the desk.  The messenger stood squarely in front of the desk until she finished the call. He placed the package carefully on the side of the desk, being sure to avoid messing any papers.  Would she be needing anything else?  I cringed with anticipation.  “Tea, and see what the anjnabi wants to drink as well!”

In his Majesty’s address, he promised his subjects that he will settle for nothing less than the best for his people.  I am confident that getting down one’s own toner should also fall into the category of bearing one’s own burden.

The kidney story caught me somewhat off guard given the striking absence of Israeli malfeasance in the tale. In this case, Jordanian criminals are using phony taxis to scoop up unsuspecting students and workers from various curbs across the capital, drugging them and then harvesting their organs for sale. Prescriptions for avoiding capture include being wary of taxi drivers looking too well groomed or well dressed men offering rides in private cars. Yes, you might want to escape the down pour – but is your liver worth it?

My first thought was to trace the genesis of this particular conspiracy theory back to the three Rabbis in New Jersey or the Swedish story about Israelis stealing organs from Palestinians killed by the IDF before returning their bodies for burial. I mean, what’s a good conspiracy theory without somehow implicating the Israelis?

Then I came across the news that Jordan was pressing Egypt for the extradition of Jordanian citizens who had gone to Egypt to sell their kidneys. It seems that there is a disturbing trend of cash strapped Jordanians smuggling themselves to Egypt in order to sell a kidney on the black market there. Jordan has taken the step to arrest them upon return in an effort to slam the brakes on this ghoulish phenomenon.

Has the economic crisis cut so deep that Jordanians now have a new specter to fear? Let’s see what the next conspiracy theory has to say!

And here we are again. In the post holiday haze the “faithful” are pounding the drums of fealty to Jerusalem’s stones once again, in fear that the determined push towards compromise will mean just that: compromise – an eternal promise to share what in the world view of the zealots can only be truly honored by one side alone. The impressionable are once again picking up stones, cudgels and loading canisters of tear gas to meet the rising tide of rage. Ten years have passed and it seems that once again blood will flow down the wadis of the Holy Land, carrying the hope of peace away in its deluge.

Those many summers make checking out plates a force of habit. No matter how long I live abroad bragging about putting Oman, Yemen and Syria on my list never loses its thrill.  However, in the last few years the liscence plate game has new significance. In the capital, the liscence plate game is a sure fire indicator of stability in the HKJ’s eastern neighbor. Simple correlation – the higher number of plates reading “Iraq – Baghdad” the more precarious the security situation there.  The inverse is also true. When the number of Iraqi plates go down, the situation is getting better.  In 2005 and 2006 it seemed like every other car was fleeing the chaos.  It was also apparent to me that all those informed politicians castigating the surge hadn’t bothered to play the liscence plate game. I knew it was working because suddenly the plates were gone.

Sadly, I am writting this post because over the last few weeks they are back. As I fight my way through the pre-iftar drag race I see more an more Iraqi plates. Once again, the violence is taking it’s toll.

Only a real New Englander could pull that off!

I wonder how many workers will call their bosses to report being  “taban” on Thursday in order not to lose the deposit on their room in Aqaba or the Dead Sea? I wonder how long before some erudite local commentators invoke the dangers of globalization and the deterioration of family values in response? After all the notion that last minute decisions to close up shop for copious holiday’s could have an impact on Jordan’s ability to compete internationally has to be part of a wider conspiracy and not the result of home grown efforts to actually promote a culture of productivity. Right?

Nevertheless, a coup for those bold Jordanians seeking to force the word productivity into the local vocabulary!  Of course I can’t personally think of a better celebration of labor day than actually expecting people to WORK!

Thanks Martin for the fair and balanced reporting. Good to know you are putting us in touch with the shared and mutual suffering!!! Of course, I am sure CAMERA will be quick to point out you violated rule number one by failing to use the appropriate descriptors for the Gaza family – 2 Terrorist Hamas sympathizers were liquidated by IDF forces while preparing lethal, heated projectiles on their roof. Martin! Shame on you for not correctly identifying the obvious truth that those boys were boiling water to maim innocent Israeli soldiers!

Glad someone is willing to tell Blair et al that the silence in unacceptable