I heard a report of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy who was killed because he engaged in a single terrorist act. I learned he did this after he viewed a news report of Israeli police committing what he perceived to be an act of police brutality upon a Muslim woman by taking off her head cover. His father explained that his son exclaimed, "Look what those dirty Jews are doing to our women."
Did the father take a moment and explain to his son that judgment should be left to God and the legal system and that things aren't always what they seem at first glance? Did the father take a moment and explain to his son that even if what he perceived was actually what happened, that the insults, trespasses and offenses of a few cannot be attributed to an entire religion or race or people? Did the father take a moment and explain to his son that if what he perceived to have been wrong was actually what happened that they need to find ways to reach out to all people in both their worlds to bring justice and stop the few from besmirching the reputations of the group? Did the father take a moment and explain to his son that revenge leads to a blind and toothless world and never stops the cycle of violence?
No he did not. To the contrary, he doubled down on it and validated his son's anger. Now he has a dead son and a motive to seek revenge. They both are representatives of an endemic culture of hate, especially in the Middle East and throughout the world.
Sometimes it appears to me that the people in both sides of these conflicts cherish their hate and are more proud to have a dead son who is a martyr, than they are to have a live son who wants to end the cycle of violence and find peace and to have a world that is safe for everyone to live in.
You love that which you give your time, attention, money and heart to. Many in the Middle East have given so much of their time, attention, money and heart to their hate and desire for revenge that it would seem they love it above all else.
Know this, I do not write this as a condemnation, but an invitation to those that read to explore its truth. We all carry some little petty grudge or need for a bit of revenge. Find it and help end whatever cycle of violence you engage in and invite all to do the same.
Loren M. Lambert © October 14, 2015
Did the father take a moment and explain to his son that judgment should be left to God and the legal system and that things aren't always what they seem at first glance? Did the father take a moment and explain to his son that even if what he perceived was actually what happened, that the insults, trespasses and offenses of a few cannot be attributed to an entire religion or race or people? Did the father take a moment and explain to his son that if what he perceived to have been wrong was actually what happened that they need to find ways to reach out to all people in both their worlds to bring justice and stop the few from besmirching the reputations of the group? Did the father take a moment and explain to his son that revenge leads to a blind and toothless world and never stops the cycle of violence?
No he did not. To the contrary, he doubled down on it and validated his son's anger. Now he has a dead son and a motive to seek revenge. They both are representatives of an endemic culture of hate, especially in the Middle East and throughout the world.
Sometimes it appears to me that the people in both sides of these conflicts cherish their hate and are more proud to have a dead son who is a martyr, than they are to have a live son who wants to end the cycle of violence and find peace and to have a world that is safe for everyone to live in.
You love that which you give your time, attention, money and heart to. Many in the Middle East have given so much of their time, attention, money and heart to their hate and desire for revenge that it would seem they love it above all else.
Know this, I do not write this as a condemnation, but an invitation to those that read to explore its truth. We all carry some little petty grudge or need for a bit of revenge. Find it and help end whatever cycle of violence you engage in and invite all to do the same.
Loren M. Lambert © October 14, 2015
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