Warm day, cool shade in the morning. Feeling tired in the afternoon after my two walks, In the dark of night frogs calling out in chours down by the shallow river and in the morning there is birdsong from the fields and forest to the south: crows, redwing blackbirds and chickadees (I think).
I’ve been struggling to say something about the war in Gaza but I keep tearing up each draft and starting over. The situation is so ancient and intractable that it makes our smartest experts seem either cruel or hopelessly naive. What can I possibly add? I cannot speak for or against those who are suffering. I can’t imagine anyone who wants to listen to someone who cannot fathom the grief that is building up, like floodwaters behind a feeble dam straddling Israel and Gaza, but still I feel compelled to write something before a full fledged war engulfs us all.
A harmless Gopher Snake gave me a start on my morning walk.
So many angry voices are eager to define themselves as pro Israel or pro Palestinian that we ignore the the killings and torture that occurred on October 7 or the killing of innocents which continue to this moment in Gaza. We are so busy choosing up sides that we forget about all the killings which both sides will propagate tomorrow and in the near future, unless some real commitment to peace breaks open in the hearts of the combatants. Killings like these are the enemy of civilization and nothing of consequence can happen until the killing stops. This is almost cliche it is so obvious.
The best part of any day is when I get to hold my grandson in my lap and feed him a bottle. He is two months old and he snorts and chortles as he sleeps in my arms. How many babies just like him have died in this war so far? How many fathers and grandfathers (or mothers and sisters for that matter) will be moved to take up arms to avenge the innocent deaths?
Who will forgive us if we let this battle spread out into the region, the hemisphere and finally to the world? The sad truth is that in the fog of war, both sides feel justified. Both sides will continue their cruelty unless something can be done to have them turn from their suffering and choose peace and security rather than murder.
Please… I don’t mean too sound smug, because I know that none of this is easy. I know that there are genuine grievances held by both sides. Leadership on neither side speaks out for a two state solution anymore. Does that mean that prospect is dead? I don’t know, but I hope it will work, though I know it’s not my decision to make.. I just know that we need to choose peace as a virtue not as a defeat. Peace is the good thing that will protect the innocents. Peace is the only thing that will keep all the babies safe. I know we live in a cynical and hateful era. But I have to believe that we need non-violent solutions on the table and by “we” I mean all of us, combatants on both sides and all the citizens with a stake in the matter. All of us have plenty of work to do. Peace is not easy it takes a long and committed vision while war is an impulse towards the death of a child you are holding in your arms..
I only ask that everyone involved when it comes to the important decisions that are to be made will consider the pathway to long lasting security and non violence before they resign from the table and walk away into the rubble.
jhs
Here is a new poem.
