The Citizen On Mars

IT WAS ALREADY LATE LAST SATURDAY NIGHT when I finally snapped open the television with the slippery black remote control on my right hand and then immediately surfed towards the sports channels, particularly to the one that would be carrying live soccer matches straight from England at that time. My head was a little heavy from a medium dosage of beer that I sipped (or swallowed) about a couple of hours ago just to steady the nerves and stay-off some cold wind that somehow seeped into the room that night; it can get so cold in the evening these days. I was mighty glad that Chelsea and Liverpool was in the middle of the first half of a match that could have huge bearings on the present Premier League standings and I have become even more glad when I realized that Liverpool was leading 2 goals to none. I couldn’t believe it at first. My favorite English football team wasn’t as proficient against powerhouse teams like Chelsea. I know they have beaten Joseph Murinho’s team in last year’s UEFA Champions Cup semifinal match held at Anfeld Stadium but that was European soccer. In the Premier League, Liverpool wasn’t as forthcoming as that excellent game they had against Chelsea last Saturday night. Liverpool did win that game and narrowed the diffrence between their third placing and Chelsea’s second place spot. And since Arsenal had a wondrous win over Manchester United last night (Star Sports was cruel enough not to have carried it live on our shores last night—after advertising the game for almost a week), Liverpool’s chances to finally get that Premier League championship is better than ever; in fact never been better in almost a decade if I am not mistaken.

Liverpool ain’t used to be my most favorite English football team. It used to be Manchester United. I remember those heydeays of the Red Devils, just about the time they won the “Treble” sometime in 1999, winning the Premier League, the UEFA Champions Cup league throphy, and the FA Cup all in one season. They were all so riding all too high, with David Beckham, Roy Keane, Van Nistelroy and the other superb guys on their roster, forming a magical team that made the game of soccer like upon a graceful dance of ancient root, so smooth and soothing to the eyes, making football easier than to look at than what it is actually, so much easier in fact, that even until now—even through the expert ball prowess of the mighty Brazilians—I’ve never sen soccer played so beautifully the way David Beckham and his teammates did some four or five years ago. It felt so much like the Showtime days of the LA Lakers back in 1989, when Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabar spearheaded and swooshing bunch of guys like James Worthy, Byron Scott, Kurt Rambis and Michael Cooper towards the most memorable times in NBA basketball, winning back-toback titles and bringing basketball towards another level. Or perhaps, it could be likened to the six years Michael Jordan was the only basketball player that mattered in NBA town.

But ever since David Beckham had gone to the Primera Liga in Spain, I felt that it wasn’t the same anymore. Something is missing in the formula and something seem to be not so full and complete and Sir Alex ferguson shouldn’t have allowed Beckham to leave London for Madrid. Van Nistelroy was still proficient as ever, scoring at least a goal for a record number of games and they even had a title after Beckham left (if I am not mistaken) but their season was not as good as the one they had before. Perhaps like they said, some good things never last.

After the Liverpool match on Stars Sports, Watford was on against Everton (I think) but since I was not so interested in both English soccer teams, I switched channel and landed on BBC. I felt lucky because I caught just about at the right time what was a special and in-depth report on the Palestine situation, the way there is an urgent food crisis happeing in that place at this moment, and how the people there becomes more and more desperate with each passing days. The semi-documentary is seen thru the eyes of a number people; one was a taxi driver, another was a kid and another was thru the narration of a Palestinian doctor. The BBC reporter went around town accompanied by the main narrators in the film, and one could see what devastation means and disorderly society actually look and feels like. As the camera spans along streets of Gaza, you could see how people just stay on the streets and roads and visibly with nothing better to do except perhaps to mingle and let pass the time. There was protestations on the streets, men chanting to their government that there is no job to be found and they have kids to feed. And a an interviewed Palestinian official belched back at the prostesting Palestinians how they themselves have no money to buy food and fed their own families. An official from the Palestinian Ministry had explained that most of the economic activity in Gaza have gone to a standstill, especially when the Israelis had started to build huge line of walls to protect their borders. Most of the Palestinians there are farmers on lots that were affected by the building of the gargantous walls.

There was even a scene where the Palestinian doctor rushed to a nearby hospital because victims from a nearby bombing incident are coming in one by one. There were 21 dead and 42 injured. And since the dead victims were all Palestinians, they were immediately called “martyrs” and there was even a person held on stand-by on that hospital that night, just awaiting for the names of the so-called martys to be relayed by attending doctors, and he had this role of broadcasting the names of the martyrs to the entire Palestinian public. Such incidence of war and conflict, they become so unimaginable sometimes.

The hospital scene was gruesome and attending doctors there had to mend broken limbs and exploded flesh even though they were not being paid salaries by the Palestinian Authority there. One doctor stated in clear tone to the BBC reporter how doctors there were “so good people” that they have to serve the people in “this kind of situation” and they don’t get any salary. In my mind, those doctors were not only “so good” but they were heroic and noble, to ever serve in that very risky situation and not being paid any cent.

Most of the economic activity in Palestine right now is only thru farming and herding and its being affected gravely by the age-old conflict between Israel and Palestine. Most employees there are being employed by the government and there seem to be no private sector there except for some merchandise stores along stony and sandy roads. Many if not most of the inhabitants of Gaza—or maybe throughout Palestine—eats thru merely thru government food aids. That’s how desperate the situation in Palestine these days.

I thought to myself, this must be what can be called as “the price of war”; and its not so good. It’s not at all.