IN THE “FAR AWAY” FROM WAR

 I am far away from war in Israel and Gaza. I am sitting today on my porch in the low sunshine of a warm fall day, yet my thoughts are of the terrible horror and human suffering in that war torn place.  I recognize I have the physical and mental advantage of being safe, not threatened by bombs, collapsing buildings, or saddened by death around me, or targeted by masked intruders with death-dealing weapons..

I have the advantage of thinking clearly—from my position of safety— yet I can imagine the terror, the pain, horror, the sorrow of loss of these two peoples so far away. 

There are many of us like me—far away.  We can see both sides, we are not natural religious or ethnic partisans, we know that killing children, innocents, the elderly by AK47s or by F16s is wrong for whatever purpose respective leaders claim.   There is never justification for engaging in the purposeful or avoidable, even “collateral” death of innocents. 

Yet sadly there are those of us in high places of the far away…who self-serving, hypocritically pander to the combatants and encourage, facilitate, incentivize, support them to greater violence, more death and destruction. They are morally corrupt, more so than those who kill when ravaged by war on their doorstep .  Our most human and moral instincts drive us instead, to end the carnage and killing, and shun or silence the repugnant verbal justifications aired in the yellow media for escalation, more and greater violence and death.  Our goals must be the difficult compromises that will bring stability and peaceful coexistence. 

Those of us in the far away, can see clearly what these objectives are. We must have the political courage and determination to bring that vision to the combatants.  End the support for death—work for peace. In truth, our fragile, dangerous and changing modern world can no longer afford or  survive those who continue to bring us to the brink of world war for the price of an election, or a dusty dessert landscape.    

Yes, we are far away, but from here we can see the wrongs on both sides.