Rite of Passage

Rite of Passage

Green City, Missouri – Just after noon my father-in-law rode out on his big machine  to cut their football-field-of a-front-lawn.  I cut the smaller back yard with their self-propelled walking mower.

It must have been contagious. Before we finished two hours later, freshly mown grass with bright green ‘cut’ lines was the norm in the neighborhood. The neighbor across Pfeiffer Street to our left was riding and cutting on her John Deere; her neighbor rode his Cub. Not to be out done, the Mayor rode hard to catch up and contour his pasture-of-a-lawn to our right.

Each spring folks in this rural northeast Missouri town take to their lawn mowers. Grooming their lawn – “keeping it pretty” –  is a matter of pride and self-expression, a ritual. It’s part of their rite of passage in spring.

Grooming one’s lawn is an integral part of Green City’s community spirit. This simple task is taken seriously. It is a civic responsibility – a matter of allegiance to the community’s wellbeing. It is tantamount to the oath taken by an elected government official to bear responsibility for the welfare of his constituents.

Come spring in Missouri, tight bunches of petit magenta-pink flowers on Red Bud trees and creamy white flowers of the Wild Plum and Dogwood glow with radiance. Spring’s clean, light air casts their colors iridescent against a barren farmland cleansed by winter’s pure white snow. You can see through the patches of color along roadsides, in fields and yards to view the past. Spring is about transparency.

Spring offers us transformation with its longer days and warmer temperatures.  It gives us more comfort, spawns new hope, and drives our psyche to feel refreshed. Spring’s transformation confers on us an inner strength to be patient not only with ourselves but others, too.  It says, afford others their dignity by being fair.

 The rain and plow in spring turn the barren into plenty and provide for us. Spring stirs clusters of new life.  It says, “See through the changes at hand. See them through.”

Spring in Syria

Walking behind the self-propelled mower, I wondered about spring in Syria? How have the traditions of spring in the Syrian culture been affected by Bashar al-Assad and his army as they rain down shells and kill innocent children, women and men in their attempt to squash the yearlong uprising?

How do parents in Syria cope with the uncertainty of daily living and its routine? There must be constant anguish about sending their children off to attend school every morning, five days a week in a violent, unsafe war environment. Have their children been able to wander home and play intermittently in the streets along the way home?

Parents need stability in society to send their children out into the world. Children need structured learning on a regular basis at school. They long for the choice to interact freely with each other as a part of growing up. These aspects of childhood surely play out as ritual in springtime; rather, they did.

Have these same Syrian families been able to work along side of each other in sprucing up their shared courtyards – cleaning its walls and customary fountain, pruning its citrus trees and grapevines, planting flowers while letting the children play?

Families need to interact, too. Their pride looks for ways to be exhibited behind the closed doors of courtyards where life happens in a private way. What about the traditional lunch of chicken kebab, lamb kibbe, tabbouleh, hummus and flatbread? Hmmm….

How many of these same families, neighborhoods and communities have had their regular marketplace or “souk” days interrupted and even stopped by indiscriminate bombing and attack from the Syrian army?  

The souk is a thread in the social fabric of Syrian culture. It is the commercial place where people earn their livelihoods and others buy food, drink and staple goods for their nourishment and homes. Haggling at market over a woven rug, bartering over food prices, and debating local politics make the souk a vital part of daily living in Syria. Come springtime these marketplaces come alive again as the sun drenches vendors’ stalls and people mingle with a new energy.

And what about those weekly and even daily visits to places of worship? The quiet and calm right to practice religion in a sanctuary has also been interrupted. People fear going out at all.

What has happened to the expectations of the Syrian people trying to exercise freedoms associated with a march toward democracy?  They’ve been threatened and intimidated, jailed and tortured, even stamped out permanently in 9,000 cases and counting.

His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan described the Arab Spring as “a call for dignity, justice and freedom,” noting “there’s no going back on the legitimate aspirations of the people to have a larger say in the way their societies are organized.” Syrians, like other peoples of the Arab Spring, are saying let us determine and shape our rites of passage not only in spring, but every season throughout every year.

Getting Back Spring’s Transformation

United Nations and Arab League special envoy, Koffi Annan hopes he has succeeded in getting Assad to agree to a six-point peace plan. A cease fire began today, and seems to be holding. But it will be tested tomorrow - Friday - when Syrians congregate for prayer at mosques. Heavy weapons remain in city squares such as Homs. Snipers rest on rooftops. Troops are still present, too, and at the ready. Annan's peace plan was one more necessary step in an international process that will eventually isolate and remove Assad. Of the six points in Annan’s peace plan for Syria, two demanded transformation this spring:

Mr. Assad, end the violence and accept “an inclusive Syrian-led political process to address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people.”

Mr. Assad, fulfill your commitment to “respect freedom of association and the right to demonstrate peacefully as legally guaranteed in Syria.”

Upon assuming power after his father’s death and during his first address as Syria’s new leader in July 1999, Assad proclaimed his Damascus Spring for change and a more pluralistic, civil society. It began to happen. Access to the outside world via the technology of the internet, satellite dishes, and mobile phones occurred. Foreign newspapers and publications showed up at newsstands, and open criticism of the government was reported in local Syrian media. Then Assad suddenly reversed course a year later and began jailing people who opposed his rule.

Last spring, Assad struck back again to prevent the Arab Spring from establishing a foothold.

As one Middle East expert noted, feelings of grief, anger and helplessness in the Syrian people grew out of Assad’s repression. Yet the Syrian people could not be held down any longer. They transformed these downtrodden feelings into compassion and solidarity, and rose up. The fear was gone. There was a choice of flight or fight, and the majority of the Syrian people have chosen the latter.

The UN and international community must not allow Assad to continue his assault on Syrians’ rite of passage to democracy.

See It Through

Spring is pure and its rights must be respected, not only in America, but in Syria, too.  A Greater Syria in spirit requires the building of a civil society complete with human rights and opportunities to establish individual rites of passage. Syrians want civil rights as well as political rights. They long for equal access to economic opportunity.

What will next spring bring for the people of Syria?