naiveté
The legitimacy of Israel and the legitimacy of Palestine
I am naive. I am immature. I am not fully educated. I am young. I am new to this. I am not sure about what to think of god.
I was not here thousands of years ago when Israel was muted and disbanded. I was not here when it was reborn. I was not here during the six day war. I am not yet a man of politics, or what I feel is my current calling: to engineer for man.
For all intents and purposes, I am naive when it comes to Israel. This is why I wish to learn and listen to what you have to say in response to what I think on the subject. I want to listen to what people think about this issue, in earnest, with as little bias on your part as all of you can muster, and as much civility as the subject will allow.
Thinking about acknowledging the legitimacy of Israel or Palestine is very a pensive task to me. It pits the righteousness of religion against the futility of humanity and exists as a revolving door to more and more conflict that has its roots in these seemingly untenable issues. I see men and women on both sides, fighting for a god who agrees with them. I see men and women on both sides, dieing for a god who agrees with them. Many on both sides take the same approach, defaulting to a truth that there is only one god, and that god is on their side.
I also see displaced people on both sides who simply want to go ?home.?
My facts are sketchy on this, and I admit that because I want all of you to criticize my logic and not my unfamiliarity with this facet of history, as to which I humbly capitulate. I do not wish to try to sound like an expert on a topic that, honestly, I know very little about.
From what I have read, Israel was progressively pounded out of existence thousands of years ago by the Egyptian, Ottoman, Persian, and Roman tribes and empires, among others. Through conquering or persecution, Israelites were displaced from their holy land for centuries.
Much happened before the creation of the Israeli state in the early part of the 20th century, but what I want to focus on is what happened as a result of the establishment of the Israeli state. Since then, the words ?middle east? have remained synonymous with the pain and suffering of incongruent and yet quite similar peoples.
Without getting into topics that I cannot hope to elaborate on, I see the middle east as a part of the world where those responsible for the unrest, be it the British, Egyptians, or the many other parties that tore that part of the world apart, are dead. I see people fighting on behalf of their forefathers on both sides, defending the seemingly indefensible, defending hatred, defending violence, defending persecution, and above all, defending expulsion, all in the name of god.
Both were displaced by force, and yet, with all their infrastructural resources, with all their holy men, with all their wisdom, with all their experience, and with all their intelligence they resort to violence and hatred because of religious arrogance. Both sides cannot accept that there was never any justification for any of this, and that by all means, there is no justification for any of it now.
I simply cannot see how god could agree with either party on this. If anything, I think god is ashamed of all of them and all of us for choosing to express our faith by taking sides and by resorting hate and violence.
I see Israel taking back lands from a people who had nothing to do with their displacement, citing religious doctrine and holy mandates in the faces of people whose homes they have destroyed, whose beliefs they continually denounce.
Perhaps the Israelis are right, and are as special as they preach. In my short life however, even I can see that a large reason why people are fighting them tooth and nail, fighting against them in earnest, acknowledging futility and continuing their suicidal barrage, is because they simply want to go home, and simply want to go to the only tracks of land that confirm their presence on this earth for at least a moment.
I see a nation of of the holy who do not realize that they are human, and who do not realize that the Palestinians are as well.
I see the Palestinians as a people whose ancestors viciously expulsed a people thousands of years ago, and who are now the targets of hate directed at their forefathers.
I see a nation of the holy who do not realize that they are human, and who do not realize that the Israelis are as well.
I am constantly reminded of the futility, the predictability, the absolutely reprehensible temperament that both parties indulge in, and I absolutely hate it.
I am not so much a sympathizer for either side as much as someone who chooses not to default to the notion that one side must be right. That said, I see Israel as playing a hand in a poker game where their opponents have long since died, and where only their children sit, angry at why they have been displaced from their homes for the actions of their forefathers.
From this the conclusion that I always come to is that man is not worthy of Jerusalem.
It is a city so reverent to man, so absolutely supreme to its destiny in the eyes of too many, that not one should be allowed to inhabit it. It should remain only a place of worship for all simply because man is too fallible to be trusted with it.
I speak for no one but myself, and am not in the position to defend the legitimacy of nations that I do not fully understand. I must also admit that my philosophy wanders in and out of various beliefs systems, because, honestly, I have my own unique perspective on god that not even the true believer, the agnostic, or the atheist will accept.
I ask you, educate me or point me in the right direction on this delicate issue so that I may understand why so many people die everyday for a god of love, a god of grace, a god of peace.
-DT
The legitimacy of Israel and the legitimacy of Palestine
I am naive. I am immature. I am not fully educated. I am young. I am new to this. I am not sure about what to think of god.
I was not here thousands of years ago when Israel was muted and disbanded. I was not here when it was reborn. I was not here during the six day war. I am not yet a man of politics, or what I feel is my current calling: to engineer for man.
For all intents and purposes, I am naive when it comes to Israel. This is why I wish to learn and listen to what you have to say in response to what I think on the subject. I want to listen to what people think about this issue, in earnest, with as little bias on your part as all of you can muster, and as much civility as the subject will allow.
Thinking about acknowledging the legitimacy of Israel or Palestine is very a pensive task to me. It pits the righteousness of religion against the futility of humanity and exists as a revolving door to more and more conflict that has its roots in these seemingly untenable issues. I see men and women on both sides, fighting for a god who agrees with them. I see men and women on both sides, dieing for a god who agrees with them. Many on both sides take the same approach, defaulting to a truth that there is only one god, and that god is on their side.
I also see displaced people on both sides who simply want to go ?home.?
My facts are sketchy on this, and I admit that because I want all of you to criticize my logic and not my unfamiliarity with this facet of history, as to which I humbly capitulate. I do not wish to try to sound like an expert on a topic that, honestly, I know very little about.
From what I have read, Israel was progressively pounded out of existence thousands of years ago by the Egyptian, Ottoman, Persian, and Roman tribes and empires, among others. Through conquering or persecution, Israelites were displaced from their holy land for centuries.
Much happened before the creation of the Israeli state in the early part of the 20th century, but what I want to focus on is what happened as a result of the establishment of the Israeli state. Since then, the words ?middle east? have remained synonymous with the pain and suffering of incongruent and yet quite similar peoples.
Without getting into topics that I cannot hope to elaborate on, I see the middle east as a part of the world where those responsible for the unrest, be it the British, Egyptians, or the many other parties that tore that part of the world apart, are dead. I see people fighting on behalf of their forefathers on both sides, defending the seemingly indefensible, defending hatred, defending violence, defending persecution, and above all, defending expulsion, all in the name of god.
Both were displaced by force, and yet, with all their infrastructural resources, with all their holy men, with all their wisdom, with all their experience, and with all their intelligence they resort to violence and hatred because of religious arrogance. Both sides cannot accept that there was never any justification for any of this, and that by all means, there is no justification for any of it now.
I simply cannot see how god could agree with either party on this. If anything, I think god is ashamed of all of them and all of us for choosing to express our faith by taking sides and by resorting hate and violence.
I see Israel taking back lands from a people who had nothing to do with their displacement, citing religious doctrine and holy mandates in the faces of people whose homes they have destroyed, whose beliefs they continually denounce.
Perhaps the Israelis are right, and are as special as they preach. In my short life however, even I can see that a large reason why people are fighting them tooth and nail, fighting against them in earnest, acknowledging futility and continuing their suicidal barrage, is because they simply want to go home, and simply want to go to the only tracks of land that confirm their presence on this earth for at least a moment.
I see a nation of of the holy who do not realize that they are human, and who do not realize that the Palestinians are as well.
I see the Palestinians as a people whose ancestors viciously expulsed a people thousands of years ago, and who are now the targets of hate directed at their forefathers.
I see a nation of the holy who do not realize that they are human, and who do not realize that the Israelis are as well.
I am constantly reminded of the futility, the predictability, the absolutely reprehensible temperament that both parties indulge in, and I absolutely hate it.
I am not so much a sympathizer for either side as much as someone who chooses not to default to the notion that one side must be right. That said, I see Israel as playing a hand in a poker game where their opponents have long since died, and where only their children sit, angry at why they have been displaced from their homes for the actions of their forefathers.
From this the conclusion that I always come to is that man is not worthy of Jerusalem.
It is a city so reverent to man, so absolutely supreme to its destiny in the eyes of too many, that not one should be allowed to inhabit it. It should remain only a place of worship for all simply because man is too fallible to be trusted with it.
I speak for no one but myself, and am not in the position to defend the legitimacy of nations that I do not fully understand. I must also admit that my philosophy wanders in and out of various beliefs systems, because, honestly, I have my own unique perspective on god that not even the true believer, the agnostic, or the atheist will accept.
I ask you, educate me or point me in the right direction on this delicate issue so that I may understand why so many people die everyday for a god of love, a god of grace, a god of peace.
-DT