Article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7913313.stm
"We're dead - either by Israeli weapons or as the living dead."
When we graduated high school, there was a lot of talk. Talk about our future, our college plans, our career goals, our military service, whatever it was, we talked. And the talk was pretty big. We had plans, but more importantly, or what I didn't realize, was that we the privilege of having plans. Now in our dorm rooms and on the lawn in front of old main, we talk even bigger. And while we sit in our sequestered classrooms, or online chat rooms, and discuss the gravity of the situation in Gaza, their reality doesn't even begin to hit home.
We make plans because we can. Speculating about what grad school we are applying to, where we are going to work, who we are going to marry, how many children we are going to have, the places we are going to visit, all of it is not beyond reason. No one would tell us we are chasing pipe dreams. When we feel politically frustrated we have outlets with which to vent our opinions. When one internship opportunity, or job hunt, or apartment rental doesn't go our way, there are others. We have options. We have the privilege of options. The point is probably made.
When reading about Gaza I rarely find an article that talks about what the 20 somethings are feeling, the adults who are still children. The adults are to blame, the children are victims, so what does that make the inbetweens? The three men in this article have seen unspeakable violence, and witnessed events that only make ghost appearances in our nightmares. That is their reality. What is the correct way to act? The moral way to feel? To fight for one's country? But on who's side, and with what purpose? Is the outcome they dream of even achievable? Do they just ignore it, and try to live life with a semblance of normalcy? What is normal, for a Palestinian in Gaza?
So many questions and so few answers, and maybe that means they are copping out, too afraid to try to find a solution, or just too disheartened. But can they be blamed? I read one BBC article and I lose a substantial amount of my arsenal of faith in peace. The questions isn't even "How do they find international peace?" It is "How do they find personal peace?"
ok it's Iraq but it's interesting
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Here is a link to a blog put up by Morgan on a different Blog. There are a
number of entries that tie more to your topic than theirs. Enjoy.
15 years ago
Posts
Wow. This post really made me think. I can't imagine what it would be like not to have the opportunity to make life plans, or what it must feel like to believe that you have no future.
ReplyDeleteThis post was very moving for me. When I thought about you question of what the twenty-somethings are doing and what there plans were I got a sense that they were adults like anyone else. I think our society affords us youth in ways that many others don't. If you look back to WWII i think that it could be argued that many people were forced to grow up fast. In situations of extreme hardship people have to assume "responsible adult" roles that most people are age would never dream about being concerned with. Its not that people no longer have life plans, its just that many have responsibilities and problems that they are dealing with that consume their daily life in many ways. I feel we are very fortunate to be offered a period when we are not faced by these many obligations and responsibilities.
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