After Iiving in Saudi Arabia all we have to do is embrace Islam, dress properly, and stop our freedoms in the Bill of Rights. No biggie.
Have you ever lived in the Middle East or visited occupied Jerusalem?
No Janette I have unlike you have never lived in the middle east but I do know a no-win situation when I see it. Somehow, like in Northern Ireland, this cycle of violence begetting violence has to end. And no I have not lived in Ireland either. I am just a simple guy with a little more than an ounce of common sense.
I recently came across an interesting blog written by an older gentleman living in Jerusalem. His post from Nov 22nd is a letter written by an Israeli solder to a family in Gaza in 2009 called “I Am The Soldier Who Slept in Your Home”. It echoes the sadness of this unending violence. It is well written and I think you might find it relevant to this post. If you have a chance you will find it here: http://thehumanpicture.wordpress.com/
Thanks Jane for the link. It was very moving! If only someone could get the two sides to put aside all the previous hostilities and seek a connection as they Israeli soldier tried to do they might just find some sort of common bond between the two combatants. Feelings run deep on both sides of this issue and I am not taking sides here. Someone has to find a way to stop the violence.
I agree that there is an extremely difficult situation and there are no easy answers. It also seems to me that whats happening to the youth of Palestine is frightening. It’s okay to kill piles of children if we kill a terrorist in the bargain, apparantly. ON this one, rather than seeing occupied Jerusalem, I would suggest a visit to the west bank ……..
Hi Barb, again this seems just like Northern Ireland in that a whole generation has passed within this conflict. All those kids have ever known is that they are supposed to hate the other side. What breaks that cycle is hard to understand but somehow it has got to be broken. Someone has to blink…..
I was strip searched my first time traveling to Ireland in 1975. Violence is so difficult. Understanding from the outside is even more difficult. I do not pretend I have a solution. Being a person who lived through being a target just because of my association and then being helped by those who were told that we were evil…I really don’t know.
What do you say when someone levels your house out of fear? Or throws rocks at you as you walk by out of ignorance, or kills your friends out of mob mentality? Is it ever worthwhile to protect your children? Defend your beliefs? If Peter had been executed with Jesus- would we have Christianity?
Has our new way of “tolerance” completely made a good way of family disappear? “I don’t need to marry her, it is her body and so the baby is her responsibility.” “We can put anything on tv because of our freedom of speech. So shows that show sex or violence are perfectly acceptable (cable).” Even, “I can speak ill of a political person because I think he believes differently then I do”.
Are those all forms of violence, in a different way?
RJ's Corner - Having My Say 
After Iiving in Saudi Arabia all we have to do is embrace Islam, dress properly, and stop our freedoms in the Bill of Rights. No biggie.
Have you ever lived in the Middle East or visited occupied Jerusalem?
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No Janette I have unlike you have never lived in the middle east but I do know a no-win situation when I see it. Somehow, like in Northern Ireland, this cycle of violence begetting violence has to end. And no I have not lived in Ireland either. I am just a simple guy with a little more than an ounce of common sense.
LikeLike
I recently came across an interesting blog written by an older gentleman living in Jerusalem. His post from Nov 22nd is a letter written by an Israeli solder to a family in Gaza in 2009 called “I Am The Soldier Who Slept in Your Home”. It echoes the sadness of this unending violence. It is well written and I think you might find it relevant to this post. If you have a chance you will find it here:
http://thehumanpicture.wordpress.com/
LikeLike
Thanks Jane for the link. It was very moving! If only someone could get the two sides to put aside all the previous hostilities and seek a connection as they Israeli soldier tried to do they might just find some sort of common bond between the two combatants. Feelings run deep on both sides of this issue and I am not taking sides here. Someone has to find a way to stop the violence.
LikeLike
I agree that there is an extremely difficult situation and there are no easy answers. It also seems to me that whats happening to the youth of Palestine is frightening. It’s okay to kill piles of children if we kill a terrorist in the bargain, apparantly. ON this one, rather than seeing occupied Jerusalem, I would suggest a visit to the west bank ……..
LikeLike
Hi Barb, again this seems just like Northern Ireland in that a whole generation has passed within this conflict. All those kids have ever known is that they are supposed to hate the other side. What breaks that cycle is hard to understand but somehow it has got to be broken. Someone has to blink…..
LikeLike
I was strip searched my first time traveling to Ireland in 1975. Violence is so difficult. Understanding from the outside is even more difficult. I do not pretend I have a solution. Being a person who lived through being a target just because of my association and then being helped by those who were told that we were evil…I really don’t know.
What do you say when someone levels your house out of fear? Or throws rocks at you as you walk by out of ignorance, or kills your friends out of mob mentality? Is it ever worthwhile to protect your children? Defend your beliefs? If Peter had been executed with Jesus- would we have Christianity?
Has our new way of “tolerance” completely made a good way of family disappear? “I don’t need to marry her, it is her body and so the baby is her responsibility.” “We can put anything on tv because of our freedom of speech. So shows that show sex or violence are perfectly acceptable (cable).” Even, “I can speak ill of a political person because I think he believes differently then I do”.
Are those all forms of violence, in a different way?
LikeLike