|
I haven't always agreed entirely with the actions that Israel has taken as respects the Palestinians and/or other Arab states. But then I stop to think about what the Israelis are actually dealing with - this is not really about a border conflict with the Palestinians. It is about a nation, a race, a culture, a religion being targeted for extinction both overtly and covertly for generations. I am glad that the US is standing up for Israel - the struggle there should remind us of what Hitler did and tried to do. It should remind us of one of the reasons our own country was settled - for relief from religious persecution. And it should remind us that in the playgrounds of our past, it was never fair to let the bullies push other kids around, even if they were bigger and more popular.
I read many of the serious pundit-blogs regularly, and although I do not aspire to those heights - my journal is a White Zinfandel rather than a muscular Cabernet Sauvignon - I appreciate their views and opinions. One of the more recent additions to my "must read every day list" is Asparagirl. Her blog for March 30th is a wonderful recognition of what the recent - and not so recent - events in Israel have meant to an American Jew.
The things she wrote touched home for me even though I am not Jewish. The reasons that my great-grandparents came here are not dissimilar to those of her ancestors - a desire to find a place that would allow them a chance to embrace their religion of choice, a chance to give their children and grandchildren and countless future generations a better life than they had before. Although the United States has minorities of religion and race and political opinion, Americans who understand our country's foundations are horrified at the atrocities being committed against a people because of their religious choice.
Whether we like it or not, America is the defender of democracy and of freedom of will. Through our economic and military might, we are the hall monitor of the world. It is tiring, it is thankless, it is expensive, but the alternative threatens our own existence. So those who say that we should force Israel to not defend itself or who say that the US should stay out of the Middle East polictics do not see the whole picture and the ultimate consequences.
It seems wrong to go back to my usual practice of discussing my [unfinished] house, my [blind] cat and my [average] life at this point. So I think I shall leave it at that for now.
[But tomorrow - White Zinfandel all around!]
~ ~ ~
Quote du jour:
"Many have quarreled about religion
that never practice it."
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
US statesman, diplomat, inventor, printer
previous ~ home ~ next
|