Please read – if you are as concerned as I am.
- Some of us are upset with gun violence – not only mass shootings – but day-to-day violence on the streets. But others hide behind a Constitutional Amendment that was meant to allow people to protect themselves against unlawful violence.
- We can be enraged with terrorism and the fear and destruction that results. Yet we can react with acts that are even more destructive – causing even greater fear and death.
We live in a world that historically has one group of people taking land from another. We rationalize it many ways. Too often history is written by conquerors and the stories of the conquered are ignored. And our lack of understanding triggers prejudice – most currently Anti-Semitic and Anti-Muslim or broadened further into anti-Palestinian or anti-Israeli.
The history of Palestine and Israel are more complicated than most of us can truly understand. But the genocide that is occurring against the people of Palestine is inhumane. Terrorism and hostage taking is wrong. But in a “civilized” world we should be able to work toward a solution. We should not justify eliminating Hamas by eliminating an entire nation.
But I wonder with all the violence growing in the world, do we really understand what it means to be “civilized”? Growing prejudice and bigotry with growing violence is demonstrated every day in the United States and other supposedly “civilized” countries.
Let us stop the violence. Gun laws need to be changed. Genocide needs to be stopped. We cannot stop terrorists by eliminating an entire population of people.
Politicians must do their jobs – in this country and around the world.
But what can our schools do? How can find time in classrooms to build understanding of differences?