Mav, I haven’t participated much to this discussion. To date, I would only have repeated your words, but probably not with such clarity.
There is one thing you mentioned that I have to discuss, if only for my own emotional well-being. You write (I shortened it a bit cause my post is long): … Images of hundreds of Palestinians spontaneously celebrating must have caused deep revulsion among Americans and many others ...those images of jubilation carried a message which will almost certainly be ignored...The fact is that for more than five decades, in defiance of countless UN resolutions and of international law, the Palestinians' land has been occupied and their rights ignored by Israel, with full diplomatic cover and open-ended financial and military backing from Washington. So for many Palestinians, Israel and the US are virtually one and the same thing. That is why the awesome atrocity triggered jubilation among many ordinary Palestinians.
I wish I had your power of speech to get my point across but here goes...
I was raised to believe that deep inside we are all the same. Our basic core is one of kindness and good. And that, true, there are differences brought on by cultures/religion, but real people, you know, that guy standing in the street, or the woman at the grocery store, or anywhere,,, inside themselves, inside people are basically good.
This is what my father taught me and I have always lived my life accordingly and never hesitated to stand and defend that idea (as those on the Board the longest will surely vouch for)….YET…now I am shaken.
No matter what these Palestinians have lived through, don’t they have a core that should have told them that killing innocents is not something to celebrate? I am in turmoil because of the sight of those in jubilation. Did my father lie to me, unwittingly and of kind heart, but was it a lie? And am I living a lie?
I don’t know anymore and I am angry at myself for not knowing. I’m angry because I think that this is only ONE thing and yet it makes me question myself. But it was such a cruel sight, and so many people, all celebrating. I have stood up to bosses (got fired once), stood up to a racist client (and am consequently banned from selling to one of the biggest pharmaceutical retailers) and never doubted, never hesitated.
But now I doubt, and wonder if it was really a lie told by one who always believed it to one who was naive enough to believe it too?
What do I do now Mav? What do I do now?
