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Understanding problems leads to solutions
When there is a high school shooting in the United States, we are shocked. We turn inwards and we seek to numb our grief with justification. We blame the music, the movies and the magazines that our youth turn to. However, when a person of that same age takes to the streets of Haifa, marinating himself in hatred, and then decides to kill a busload of children, we are little more than apathetic. Another facet of my newly realized ignorance, is how popular the womenØs movement is becoming in Palestine. For a brainwashed Palestinian 18 year-old girl living in the West Bank, the most fashionable martyrdom is of the feminine persuasion. ThatØs the ticket! LetØs take a girl raised in a culture that generally puts women just above dogs on the social chain, and teach her that in order to redeem herself for the sin of having a vagina, she must blow herself up and take a cafô-full of people with her. In general, we Americans arenØt too clear on whatØs happening in the world. Awareness can lead to understanding, and understanding can lead to peace. I am tired to being force-fed the idea that if tragedy isnØt happening in my own backyard, I am simply to ignore it or throw money at it. Sadly, this is the way that many of us deal with sociopolitical adversity. It occurs to me that the best way to shed the dunce cap is to make our lives as filled with knowledge as possible. Clearly, there are several issues at hand: ignorance of situation, the comeuppance of new trends in destruction, and the fact that very little progress is being made on either side of this heated topic. Together, these are suffocating our consciousness. But, there must be a solution. I do not claim to have all the answers. But I have a feeling that, as Buddha admonished, there must be a ²middle path.Ó The United States, in light of recent events, cannot stand completely with the Palestinians or the Israelis. Yet, if we ignore the situation, sending only our weakest envoys to the region, we are shunning human connection and defense. Angry, violent protest is not the way to solve the problem. But it appears that Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat are in some sort of political arm-wrestle, each trying to show their communities that they are not completely gutless. Americans need to clarify what they want in this world. Do we want peace or war? Feast or famine? Happiness or terror? Our decisions need to resound over the country and resonate with our leaders. Then and only then, can we be free to live with a promise of liberty and justice for all. However, as enlightened as we may claim to be, the shadow of the proverbial dunce cap hangs over our heads like the miasma of a broken sewer main in the middle of July. It stinks. |
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Last
updated: May 8, 2002 |
