Friday morning. The planes are roaring overhead toward Beirut. I had a big cry this morning as I thought of Greg, who died in Lebanon 24 years ago at the hands of a Syrian soldier who was no doubt no older than he was. This is just crazy. The carnage in Lebanon, the destruction of life and limb and property -- and nothing, absolutely nothing gets resolved this way. We'll destroy them for the time being and kill hundreds of innocent people along the way and it will be quiet for a while and then it will start all over again. This is nuts. We -- all of us and millions more of us -- need to somehow form a phalanx of peace-loving people who will somehow find a way to end war once and for all!!!

That's how it feels this morning in Haifa.

I'm going to copy into this posting a piece written by Tim Jackins, the International Reference Person for Re-Evaluation Counseling. I think it's very smart, not of much use right at the moment, but it sets a direction to think about and move towards. We are all in this together. Each of us has a sphere of influence. I am so glad that I am connected to each one of you.

Love,
Pat
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On the Middle East, by Tim Jackins

The current situation in the Middle East is one formed over many years by the oppression of its peoples, including colonization and manipulation by countries far from the Middle East. The unthinking attempts to solve a problem by hurting the other side with enough death and damage that they will accept one's position cannot work, but is now being played out, yet again.

Fresh thinking is needed to find solutions to the real problems that exist, not the repetition of old, failed and unworkable policies on all sides, not terrorism nor mass retaliation nor oppression. Such actions simply lead to a reinforcement of the existing difficulties, make it ever more difficult to find a real, just, and workable solution, and must be abandoned.

Any real solutions cannot be enforced by one side on another, nor by outside forces manipulating the peoples of the Middle East, or those will not ever be real solutions, just another set of enforced inequities that will foster more violence, death, and destruction in the future.

All peoples involved in the present conflict are good humans who have been oppressed and hurt, and none should be blamed for the distressed actions of their governments or other groups operating in their territories. The fears we all feel at the situation should not be used to justify our giving in to any pull to act oppressively at any people.

The actions in the Middle East are understandable, given the history of the peoples involved. But if past injustices are accepted as sufficient reasons to manipulate, oppress and kill others, then there can be no end to war, oppression, or terrorism. Injustices must simply end and just solutions must be sought.

A just solution, including a lasting peace and a secure and prosperous country for each people as a first step into the future, can only come through fresh thinking by the peoples' representatives, each committed to finding a good life for all peoples, not for one at the expense of another, nor one involving the impoverishment of most for the wealth of a few. Many aspects of those future lives require the ceding of things long held as important by one people or another and bound up with great emotional attachment based on old battles and injustices. The more of us who recognize and face this necessary step and thereby are able to hold out a good, rational, and just future as a direction against the allure of settling old scores, the more quickly the situation can move forward.

The sooner governments and groups, other than the people directly involved, stop trying to manipulate the peoples living in the midst of this conflict, whether for reasons of political power, religion, or oil, the sooner these peoples will attain a good future for themselves.
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