Hanging from the cliff - Saturday, August 20, 2005 It is a strange thing to realize how ironic life can be. Some days the dragon wins but this wasn’t one of them. There are a few heros in this story. Among them, the Buergermeister, Herr Grossman, Ernst, JPAC’s willingness to go to all lengths and make all amends, and the farmer-owners themselves. Herr Grossman arranged a 2 pm meeting for the team leader, the archeologist, the linguist, Ernst, moi, the farmers and Burgermeister himself in his office. My letter had been written and translated and set aside in case of fire. We gatherd in the meeting place and waited for the brothers to arrive. They shook our hands in turn and the elder brother began speaking. Ernst would translate but the message was the same - he was not inclined to give permission to continue the dig.
In the midst of the conversation (understood by half of us but body language and tone of voice is telling and I get an A in interpreting both!) Ernst took out my letter and began reading it to the farmers. Though I understand none of the words, his reading was somehow powerful and moving. The brothers listen attentively and then the Burgermeister proposed a private conference with him. They returned to the table and announced they would put aside their objections. They now had the feeling they were dealing with a person and not an anonymous institution. They were willing to do this for me as a result of my letter. Both brothers looked directly at me for the first time. The JPAC team offered profuse and sincere apologies for any offense they may have caused and assured the owners their field would be properly restored.
We all shook hands and I wanted to hug them both but refrained from such an American gesture. They touched my heart with their willingness to hear my story. I connected with them in my willingness to hear theirs.
Tomorrow is a work day at the field in Elsnig. I had a dream about my sister last night when I didn’t think I was sleeping at all. She was sitting in my hotel room laughing. She said, “oh ye of little faith..I told you not to worry so much about small stuff.” She was right. She wanted to be here and had taken vacation this week so we could do a sistah trip. Guess she got here from heaven. So, that is my story of drama in the field which I will be happy to do without from this moment forward.