This news makes my heart so sad.  I fear for mother earth when her children are so ruthless and brutal.  Is there no sense of history anymore?   Are we so primitive that we can destroy an ancient market place?   In the name of all that is holy in the world this holy war is ridiculous. 

  I cringed when I heard of all the treasures that were destroyed in the Iraq war.  I was there and saw that place in a relative time of peace.  I was in Afganisthan too at a time of peace and I know what "They" are destroying there too.  The Taliban is ruthless.  The Americans are too.  War is hell and soldiers do damage even when they don't really want to.  

The lines get blurred.  My friend asked my boyfriend who fought in Vietnam if he enjoyed the Vietnamese food when he was there.  We never got over the nature of that question.  He remembered the fear of ground glass in any food that was offered.  He remembers rations.  But he does not remember fine Vietnamese cuisine or a big steaming bowl of Pho in the market place.   War is hell.

     Syria is such a sacred place in the heart of this conflict. The whole middle east is a tinder box.  I want to mourn the loss of the ancient market. 

    I shopped in markets like that in India.  Piles of spices put out on blankets under tents that had areas staked out for centuries.  In Indonesia I went to an old market and bought ancient batiks for fifty cents each.   The booths went  back into areas where mystery and history combined.  Piles of dates with flies swarming all over that can be washed off at home and devoured in pleasure.  Bargaining and deals make it all a vibrant place that is just about the opposite of Walmart.

   The market is the heart of a community.  This ancient market in Syria might be replaced with a big Walmart.  If in a Civil War "they"started burning and bombing our Walmarts we would be lost but I doubt if history would miss one of them.

   I want to get mad.  I want to rail at the loss of this ancient market in Syria but I can only be sad.  Disgusted at humans who can't get along.   I was in a crowded market street in India when a demonstration came through.  I was flat against the wall under an archway and the mob swarmed past.  The human emotion and threat of violence was scary.  I was lucky there was no real trouble and they moved along swiftly.

   When I taught English in a school in India I had to buy my food at an open market everyday.  I loved the smells and sights but not the bargaining.  Coming back to supermarkets in America was surreal.  I really could not relate to all the packaging.   I still can't.  The sanitary conditions are so complicated in this country.  There is a certain amount of distrust as I hear of spinach recalls or cloned food.  

   Government inspections and controls are to keep us safe however the marketplace is volatile.   The fire in the Aleppo market in Syria is so symbolic of the damage and unrest that could sweep the world at any moment.  Years of history gone and all the material things we strive to trade in ruins.  

  Supporting  taxation, regulations and free markets is a fine balance.  We can fight about it all we want but we need stuff.  I went to Walmart this weekend and spent eighty nine dollars.  I am glad it wasn't burned down.