First of all, please know that I realize fully well that the “powers that be” don’t really want peace in the Middle East; that I comprehend fully that — despite decades of desperate cries and bemoaned pleadings from the millions of innocent civilians caught in the bloody crossfire there between political juggernauts lusting over land and religious zealots slavering over “salvation” — violence & bloodshed & ignorance & hatred will probably continue to continue … at least for the foreseeable future.

AND YET … as has happened in similar situations over & over & over again throughout human history — Peace will indeed eventually win out. The 90% of the people who yearn for a resolution to the conflict — those masses of “everyday folk” who don’t care about the religion or the gender or the color or the culture of their neighbors; those folks who just want to be able to head to the grocery store or take their children to school without fearing for their lives — will rise up AS ONE and demand Forgiveness … and they will demand Acceptance … and they will demand Solidarity … and they will demand Peace.

And that is exactly what they will receive … ALL OF THEM.

Of course, until that day arrives, they will all remain shackled to the currently greedy & still bloodthirsty whims of their supposed “leaders” … “leaders” who up until now have shown no desire whatsoever to effectuate a cease-fire of any substance or sincerity.

AND YET — again — just in case any of those “leaders” (or anyone related to them) is listening. I have a solution to the problem; I have a practical way to Peace … just in case any of you “powerful people” — you government officials, you religious chiefs, you corporate kings — any of you who could actually speed up the process of bringing Peace to your ravaged lands … just in case any of you are listening, how about trying a bit of the following:

*How about giving Palestinians a homeland commensurate in size with their population.

*How about getting rid of that ridiculous wall the Israelis (and their American funders) have built around Gaza.

*How about engaging in active, mandatory peace accords every month of every year — whether you want to or not — and including everyday citizens, those who have already lost loved ones & family members to the bloodshed, in each & every one of those meetings.

*How about mutually dismantling a sizable portion of your weapons arsenals every year — and doing so together … at the same time … in front of each other … so you can watch each other do so.

*How about integrating your communities, including mandating that every citizen of every Middle Eastern country attend at least one interfaith religious service at least once every month.

*And finally, how about engaging THE ONE SOLUTION that is already 100% feasible and THE ONE SOLUTION that will be 100% effective — how about requiring that each & every Israeli teenager and each & every Arab teenager participate in a month-long student-exchange program every single year of their lives until they reach the age of 18.

The only way we will know Peace as a species is for each of us to intimately remember that we are indeed members of the same species … The only way for us to begin to treat each other as family members is for us to intimately remember that this is indeed already the case.

Amen & Amen & Amen … Please please please let it finally be so!

 

Filed under: The War on WAR by Scaughdt