Connections

Art is something that I was literally surrounded by growing up. Scenes of what is now the bottom of the American Falls reservoir circle my living room, but the mural of Lehi and his family in the desert seems to be the main focus of the room. That painting is now a copy and is slightly smaller than the original, but I still remember so many details of that painting from looking at it every day, year after year. Detail number one: Sariah is handing a baby to Lehi. Family is also a bit part of Arab society today. I'm starting to see just how many things are done using the family as the central unit. In many cases, it's impossible to do things if you don't have a family. This is especially true in the case of women and children. Detail number two: The two younger sons, presumably Jacob and Joseph, are filling containers with water to carry with them. I definitely have a greater appreciation for water since coming to the Middle East. You'd have thought that I would realize how precious a commodity water is since I grew up on a ranch where we get 10 inches of water per year, but I'm starting to realize that I still don't quite get it. Here, even having a reservoir is pointless because the ground would completely soak up the water before you could use it. So in order to grow things, water is stored in tanks near the agricultural areas. Water is also rationed out and the water tanks in every apartment are only filled once a week. I'm also gaining an appreciation for clean water straight from the tap. Granted the store isn't too far away, but carrying those water jugs home can still be a bit of a workout. It's also pretty awesome to take a nice drink of water in the middle of the day. This usually comes from a water bottle you've carried around all day. The water is warm, but it's wet and that's the most important part. Detail number three: meat is draped over the camels backs. My mom has always said that it was so they could jerky the meat as they traveled. I always thought that sounded about right, but now I can say that the sun definitely gets hot enough to jerky that meat.

 

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