What I want... and what I'll do
Paula was a classmate of Mrs. Carl's at Barnard and she exchanges emails with Mrs. Carl (a lot) and with me (occasionally). She also has a son in the IDF. And with Israel on the verge of undertaking a major ground operation in Gaza, she sums up what every mother with a son in a combat unit must be feeling this evening (Hat Tip: Mrs. Carl).What I want...is to go collect my little boy and bring him home. I want to lock him in a room and tell Israel that no, you can't have him. I've changed my mind. No, I'm sorry. He's not allowed to play with guns and big things that go boom. No, I'm his mother. I gave birth to him and no, you simply can't take him.Read the whole thing. And hope that maybe - one day - the Arabs will love their own children as much as we love ours. Because then there will be peace.
What I want...is to call him and make sure he is where I put him, where he told me he was yesterday. Not in the north, where Hezbollah is promising to burn the ground and open a second front and not in the south, where dozens of rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel, where a man was killed and dozens were wounded.
That's what I want...
And what I'll do, is sit here at my desk and keep editing this document for my client. I'll update the copyright statements and change the installation information to reflect the new platforms the product now supports. I'll answer the phone and I'll talk to my accountant.
And what I'll do, is tell my heart to settle. I'll tell my eyes to take a moment and look at the next beautiful wave of clouds rolling in over Jerusalem. I'll sign the papers I need to sign; type the words I need to type. I'll tell my younger daughter to clean her room and my younger son that he has to study for his test NOW. I'll tell my middle son he can borrow the car like we agreed, but he has to drive carefully. I won't talk to my daughter because she's old enough to see the cracks in my smile and know that outside, it's all a front.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:20 AM
7 Comments:
I also have faith that someday soon the Arabs will love their own children as much as we love ours. Because then there will be peace.
You are in my prayers.
Carl, the arabs will never love their children, and cherish life as we do. I have given up hope of this. They get angry when you point out that the hate the inculcate does them and their children a disservice. They rage over the view they don't love their children, yet their actions show this is the case.
If they loved their children, they wouldn't teach their children to hate.
If they loved their children, they wouldn't teach their children to kill.
If they loved their children, they would do everything in their power to protect their children from danger.
What they do is to teach their children to hate, to kill. They use their children as human shields, and cannon fodder.
It is a fools game to wait for the day that they will beat their swords into plowshares.
The base assumptions that they want peace are incorrect. Proceeding from incorrect assumptions as the basis of negotiations is a waste of your time.
I agree with Kranky, with the partial exception of his statement:
"It is a fools game to wait for the day that they will beat their swords into plowshares."
We are fools for waiting when there's so much we can potentially do to make this a reality.
Therein lies the source of every last one of our problems.
Kranky and Shy Guy,
I agree with both of you.
Winni,
I'm afraid that the Arabs loving their children as much as we love ours is a pipe dream.
Islam won't allow it.
carl,
do i understand you correctly that arabs = islam? what about the persians and pakistanis and egyptians who want to send their babies to destroy israel? because of their arab connection? do the arab christians want to send their children to be shaheeds?
you could make every arab (and arab-speakers do not always equal arabs) in the world suddenly disappear but the israel's existential problem remains.
it's a conflict with islam and should be accurately described as such. just sayin'.
Abu Yussif,
Actually I think it's a conflict with both. I don't see most of the Christians in this region exactly loving us either (although things might be different were they not fearful of Muslim reprisals).
ok, that's the prevailing thought so go with it. i'm just not seeing christians (other than the odd criminal) actively taking part/sending children in this conflict. you live among muslims and try to have a dissenting voice, or even silence. case in point are the iranian jews.
arabism isn't a motivation in any of this. it is a tool, misinformation, to hide the real motivation behind this conflict. what garners more sympathy - ethnic identity preservation or religious domination?
land conflicts/disagreements are normal in the history of the world, especially here. when we talk of jewish existential matters the arab argument falls flat. ahmadenijad has no interest in arab rights whatsoever. sure he's rather arabs have the land than jews, but that also gets back to religion.
say if all arabs in israel were christian. ok, there would be problems still but in no way would they be of the nature and severity that jews face now. at the risk of not being "politically correct", i prefer to call this problem what it is because in reality jews and christians, without hiding the real problems and differences between the two, today share the same problem we've faced here in the middle east for the past 1400 years (just look at nazareth if you don't believe me).
just my opinion, fwiw...
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