Once again, I find myself wondering if we are at a hinge point in history. And once again, I wonder if I left that sentence with no context, and if I came across that sentence years from now, if I would wonder what I had been referencing.
This morning, I'm thinking about the events in Israel over the week-end. Most of the experts I've read say that these events are the most significant military events in Israel since the 1973 Yom Kippur war. The death tolls and the human rights abuses in the past few days seem significantly worse than any that have happened in this century in Israel and Gaza.
I also realize that my understanding (of this subject, these politics, this geography) is based on reading. I haven't met or talked to any residents of either Israel or Gaza. I haven't visited the Holy Land. I am a Christian, but I don't have the same religious feelings about the Holy Land that many people of many religions do. I do tend to think in larger geopolitical terms, but I also know that we often don't see the larger geopolitical picture when we're in the middle of events that are happening.
The more I read the more I can't figure out what world leaders should do. If ever a situation deserves a word like "intractable," it's the situation in Gaza.
But I'm old enough to remember other situations that seemed impossible to solve--until a solution happened. So I will continue to pray and to hope: for peace in our time, for a world that's less oppressive, for all that are victims of violence and situations where they have had no power. It makes me sad that these types of prayers are never far from my lips.
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