India - Pakistan, The Half-Time Show

Today was the last day of school. My students and colleague thought is would a funny joke to put a t.u. hat on the desk in my classroom. I played along, expressing the required amount of outrage. Everyone was pleased.

Then they hat kept creeping back into my classroom. I tried to maintain my composure, but there is only so much a good Texas Aggie can take before he has to do something. So after the third reappearance and an attempt at a sneak attack to place the devil hat upon my head, I made an announcement, "If that hat shows up in my room one more time, I will be forced to destroy it." And then it happened again...

Don't worry, it belonged to a teacher. I'll be sure to replace it with some maroon! Saw 'em off. Gig 'em Aggies!

This got me to thinking...it is a good thing that we don't allow the Aggies and the Longhorns nuclear weapons, because when it comes down to it...India and Pakistan might just be more civil.

And then there is this.

Every single day, on the border between Amritsar, India and Lahore, Pakistan, there is a display of power and pomp that can only be compared to a football game in atmosphere and enthusiasm.

Becky and I were able to witness this a few weeks ago. The pictures and video are pretty self explanatory. Basically, there is a huge pep rally on both sides of the border. The Indians take turns running the flag towards the gate while the Pakistanis do the same on the other side. After plenty of cheering and dancing and loud music, the border guards take turns high kicking and yelling. The gate flies open and closed a few times and the flags are eventually taken down.

My kids asked me today why I hated that other school so much. They really couldn't comprehend. It was at that point that I turned to everything I taught them this year. I teach about power and how people get it, maintain it, and how it leads to conflict. So I told them - propaganda, indoctrination, nationalism. (In fact, the whole SEC, changing conference drama was basically WWI with the Longhorn Network serving as the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand...central Texas is the powder keg of the Southwest.)

Do I have to hate t.u.? No, I suppose I don't. We are the same in many ways (they are obviously inferior). But, as long as we have midnight yell practice and sing about those jerks I am going to hate them. And I reckon as long as there are things like the India-Pakistan border closing ceremony, there is not going to be much change here either.

A bit of a mixed message? Guns surrounding Gandhi.