Ponderings
It hit me how lucky I am when the song "Nineteen" came on the radio as I was driving home from seeing West Bank Story. I'm a year older than the average age of an American soldier in Vietnam, and I can't even imagine going through war. Kids around the world (yes, kids) are dying in wars that they don't even understand. Wars based on not understanding. On hating that which is different. In America, we claim to embrace diversity, but that's just another untruth. Maybe it's because I'm still a child in so many ways, and maybe it's precisely because I'm not, but I can't understand what all this fighting is for.
Thousands of years of religious intolerance, of economic and political ambition. In the end, everybody dies, and all that is left is a memory. Why should so many memories be made of tragedy, of hate, of murder, of those left behind? There's a parcel of land less than 50 square miles that for centuries people have been fighting one another to have control of, all in the name of their respective gods. Three major world religions claim this as a part of their holy heritage, claim to have religions of peace, and have launched attacks (or have smaller sects of the religion that have launched attacks) against one another to own what, exactly? Some dirt, rocks, and man-made buildings? Is this civilization?
Thousands of years of religious intolerance, of economic and political ambition. In the end, everybody dies, and all that is left is a memory. Why should so many memories be made of tragedy, of hate, of murder, of those left behind? There's a parcel of land less than 50 square miles that for centuries people have been fighting one another to have control of, all in the name of their respective gods. Three major world religions claim this as a part of their holy heritage, claim to have religions of peace, and have launched attacks (or have smaller sects of the religion that have launched attacks) against one another to own what, exactly? Some dirt, rocks, and man-made buildings? Is this civilization?