A Long War

 He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and had done it with his hands tied behind him.  ~ Mark Twain Concerning the Jewish people

In 1948 on the 14^th of May, Israel became a nation. Ever since that day, the surrounding nations around Israel have either been in open hostility or in cold disdain. In their existence, Israel has been criticized by others, heavily and ruthlessly. To the very point of being ridiculously. This would seem fine, if half what people said was true. However, the truth as always, is rarely told.

In understanding more about the conflict that Israel has with the Palestinians, it’s important to realize that Israel has never been the aggressor. While opposing forces have always struck the first blow, Israel usually has always ended it.

 When war was first initiated by the Arab coalition, the Arab leaders were so sure that they would win. So confident that they would, they said to the Arabs living in Israel to get out because they were going to wipe out Israel and they wouldn’t care who they hit. This caused a massive exodus. Many Arabs left Israel, and the Arab coalition did not take over Israel. Leaving the people homeless and stuck in refugees camps where ironically their saviors mistreated them. 

The rest is really history. However, as we know, history repeats itself, this has been seen with those who attack Israel. First someone starts a fight with Israel, and then Israel ends it. This ending business has caused people to think that Israel is aggressive. Howbeit, they didn't start the fight, they ended it.

One of the greatest confusions and strife that has been caused is by the Media and the UN which has played a very large roll in the Israel/Arab conflict. With the media, they have repeatedly reported bias and often falsified news. 

For instance, there was a case of a woman who had been attempting to attack an Israeli soldier. While that happened, the news reported that the woman had been shot for no reason. Stating that their had been no knife at all. However, it was proven later on there was a knife. The news never reported this correction. In fact, when they reported the story, they even got the picture of the woman wrong, but put up a picture of a model.

Besides just reporting false news, the media seems to fail to report on the causality list of the Israelis, which includes Arabs and Jews. This blatant display, makes it seem that the Palestinian plight seems so much worse then it is actually. When in reality Israel is being regularly attacked by bulldozers, rockets, and suicide bombers.(women and children bombers to, not just men)

To further touch on this matter, would be the theatrics of of the Palestinians. We have heard Hollywood, and we have heard Bollywood. However, what most people don't know is Pallywood. Pallywood is where Palestinians pretend to have casualties that were never so. Crashed ambulances, wounded, burnt buildings and dead bodies that get up when the cameras stop rolling. While very ingenious on their part, the sad fact it’s not true, and the Media just seems to love it.

While Israel’s enemies do such acts, Israel has been seen as a monster. This is partly due to the media, but also to the UN. With the UN, they are always quick to judge. Often taking the time to criticize Israel for everything while atrocities are being committed around Israel and elsewhere. 

 Despite that, and though the UN does that to Israel, they know better. In an investigation, they found that Israel went above and beyond the rules of combat in the last Israel/Gaza conflict. Noting clearly, in that conflict when Hamas was hiding behind and deliberately ordering civilians to be human shields, Israel was calling and sending pamphlets to warn Gazian civilians to flee where they were going to strike to take out Hamas rockets.

With the good people of Gaza, they are run by a the terrorist organization called Hamas. However, the UN sees them as a legitimate country while only a few years ago they were terrorist that the world saw as bad as Al qaeda, which is basically the father of ISIS. The thing is, the media and the UN seems to trust Hamas compared to Israel. Hamas uses human shields, shoots rockets from hospitals and schools, and is a terrorist group.

 

Sometimes people question those who try to support Israel. Often labeling them as "Zionist". However, whatever people think of these so called "Zionist", they are just Humanitarians. The reason is, a humanitarian tries to protect all humanity, and Israel has shown that. Supporting someone who has woman rights, Education for everyone, freedom to vote, and doesn't lynch gays sounds pretty humanitarian.

With all this evidence, which is out there if one looks, it would seem that people should be more aware. There should be no conflict about the Israel/Arab conflict in Palestinian. People like to talk about gray instead of black and white. However, there just doesn’t seem to be any argument to be had about Israel being the good guy: Res ipsa loquitur.

A Quick Thought: Freedom Of Speech

What does freedom mean? Freedom basically means the ability to do what you want without anyone’s control. The problem with that is that, while you may have the freedom to do something, it doesn’t mean that you have the freedom to escape the consequences.

In society, one is allowed to speak whatever they like. They can say nice things, they can say offensive things. However, whatever they say, there will be a reaction: good or bad.

When we think of freedom of speech we think of being able to say what we want without going to prison or something horrible happening to us.

However, in society we cannot say what we want without fear of the consequences. Certain comments now a days, whether said virtually or physically, could cost you your: freedom, job, dignity, friends, and health. If you say or challenge some topics, you could be very well experience physical violence.

We have the freedom to say what we want. What we don’t have the freedom is to avoid the consequences of what we say. Making it really, we have all the liberty to do as we please, but it's as much freedom to speak out as a bunch of Asians in a square in China.

So is it really freedom of speech? Yes, no, because some things need to be said without fear. But something is not worth anything if there is no cost.

 

Just People

In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. ~ Anne Frank Read

Imagine a pirate is charging at you. His beard is black, skin sunburnt, and a hat adorns his dread locked hair. As he is charging, he is wielding a cutlass, and he is screaming. Although, you might be thinking about other things. It is important to remember that this fine specimen of humanity is a human being, and people, no matter what they are, are still people.

Whatever happens to people, whether through war, through pain, through horror, something that we should always remember that people are still people. People will always be people, whether they be from a different culture, or different place. They have hurts, they have needs, they bleed as we bleed. We are all humans, brothers and sisters in this life we walk.
In this regard, we should carry each other, help one another. We are all the same. Caring for one another just seems so important as we live on this large ball in this great expense.

Despite that though, what I do acknowledge, that while people are still people, it doesn't mean that they have the same mindset or beliefs that we have. People often mistake people just being people makes us all pretty mostly the same. Yes, that is true to a certain extent, but when people go through certain things, taught certain ways, it's not that they lose their humanity, but it can radically alter it.

For example, all humans want to be loved. However, some will seem to not like love, just for the very reason they have been hurt in the past. They still are people, but they are hurt, which brings us to the core of the matter.

People are still people, but they can also be: angry people, sad people, and dangerous people, but all very human. This is why we cannot all be treated the same. If you have a friend that likes sports, you go out and do sports. If you have a friend that likes eating pizza, you eat pizza with him or her. It's not that one is not your friend anymore then the other, it's just they have different likes and are different people. At the core, they are your friend, but they should be treated differently.

In the same manner, you cannot treat our pirate friend before as mentioned as someone who is your neighbor who invites you over for lemonade and you lend them household appliances. You are not denying this pirate his humanity, but the truth is, people of different places will have very different ideas from you. So you cannot, one emphases on this, you cannot treat them all the same, they have a totally different mindset.

As Mr Pirate bring downs his blade, you might know that, he can’t afford medicare, he’s doing this for his mother, or he’s doing for his kid and wife who both have cancer. All that will not help you or him. You because, while he is still a fellow human, his ideals are very much different from you, and you may get severally hurt, because you believe that since everyone is human they should be treated the same no matter what. For him, because after maybe sending you off to see what’s behind the veil, he may very well join you. Leaving his kids, wife, and mother behind, because being a pirate is a hazardous lifestyle. All this is really because you don’t believe that other humans need to be treated differently.

To sum it up, we should always be polite to one another. However, we shouldn't expect that if we treat others as we want that they will follow suit. It's not that we mistrust people or that we mistreat people, but rather that we show wisdom with each individual and situation.

Touchy Feely

Feeling emotions is what makes life rich. You need your passions. ~ Daniel Goleman

What do to do with emotions? Like naughty nymphs, they either plague us or bless us. As a rule of thumb, it's best to capture them, inspect them, take what is useful that is to be had, and you flush them away. Get rid of them. However, whatever you do, do not stuff 'em down.

Emotions are not fine wine. They do not mature with age. Rather, they are like bread, best when fresh, worst when stale, and maybe just maybe, if done right can be used for penicillin.

There is nothing wrong with emotions. Emotions are healthy. What is not healthy is what people do with it. It's a bit like what people do with poppy plants or hemp. They are plants. It's just what people do to them, they refine them and use them for purposes, that in the end hurt society. Yes, it can be done right, but is it done right?

Controlling your emotions is good. Denying your emotions is unhealthy. A lot of people think that when you don't admit something, it disappears. While heaven must be like that. Most likely hell is like that, because all those problems come to haunt you again. If you sweep your emotions underneath the carpet, they will come and get you, just like the boogy monster, usually in an unreal manner. It's a bit like an open wound, if left alone it can kill you.

There are usually two types attitudes of dealing with emotions, both are equally disastrous. First, is the people who believe all emotion are good and don't seem to put a cap on it. Although, their method is a lot better. It's what we call wearing your heart on your sleeve. In a sense, we should, because a heart that feels pain or hurts, is a heart that in general still works. However, crying all the time, will make you totally nonfunctional and most likely a wreck.

The other group are iron hearts, you might think of some caricature military colonel. This type of style of dealing with emotions is not to have emotions. Howbeit, having emotions or a heart keeps us human.

I hesitate to say balance, because people might think of Yin and Yang, which is a horrible idea. Just think about it, balancing good and evil? Do you really even know what that means? It means that if there is more good and not enough evil, you will help evil, just to bring balance.

However, I digress. We should not control our emotions to the extent that they never come out to play. Emotions need to be in our lives. Denying them, will affect our minds, and our chemical composition, which could lead to serious injury.

It's not really that we control or let loose our emotions, but rather that we control our emotions at certain times and let loose when the time is right. People have it right, when they do these things. People instincts, aren't bad, they just aren't refined.

Ideal ways of dealing with emotions, is to control them, capture the emotions, and wait for a good time to release them. The next step would be analyzing them. Why did I feel that way, and the next would be releasing it at the right time.

Getting stuck on one of these steps could be disastrous, but there is no right or wrong way to do things, just better ways. As mentioned before, controlling or loosing ones emotions can be dangerous, but analyzing and analyzing can also be damageous If you keep analyzing how you felt or why you did what, you will most likely go just a little bit insane.

Emotions are good, it's just that we have a responsibility and need wisdom on how to deal with them. Sometimes, we don't understand why we feel why we feel. This is why we cannot hide emotions, we have to check them, look at them so that we can understand ourselves. So that we can be better people but more steadier people too.

A Quick Thought: A Ball Of Yarn

 There is a story, it tells about a boy who was given a magical ball of yarn. With it, he could skip through time. Given this device, he would skip time to when he finished school every day. Doing this every day, he decided to finally he just skip school altogether to when he finished school. As the years went by, he kept skipping and skipping his life. This part is boring, skip, don't like this, skip. Till one day, his magic ball of yarn unraveled and he found himself on his death bed.

There are several things that you can get from this story, but one thing that sticks personally, is that not every moment in life is exactly pleasant. However, I wouldn't want someone living my life. Despite the not so pleasant moments of life, they are still our lives and the bitter moments, sometimes make the sweeter moments all the sweeter. If you didn't know bitter, how could you know sweet?

Life is meant to be lived, whether it be bad or good. By the same virtue, that people say you only have one life, we should want to live our lives fully: the good or the bad. If we skip out certain moments, our lives won't be so full. It won't be empty, just not as full or as real. Furthermore, if we skip the bad, sometimes we skip the best, because you find out who really stays by you, and sometimes you can find, maybe not joy, but some measure of it.

Happiness, Will You Marry Me?

To get joy, we must give it and to keep joy, we must scatter it. ~ John Templeton

Happiness is a fleeting emotion. Happiness, is also hard work to keep around. There are a lot of unhappy people around in the world, and they would like for others to join their ranks. Like the old saying, misery loves company.

I think it's safe to say that the world is going through dark times. Arguably dark enough to say that they might just be darker than the dark ages themselves. Nevertheless, in this world, trying to be happy is so tough. In fact, it's hard work. With messages, of people saying that we are responsible for other people's happiness, bills to pay, rude people, it seems how does one even try to be happy.

People aside, it can be a challenge to control our emotions. Like a wild stallion, it goes where it wants, and seems to resent any form of constraint. However, it may resent being reined in, so to speak, they have to be reined in, less they destroy oneself altogether, if not others too.

Being happy is a conscious effort. It's not something that you just hope for and it happens all by itself. No, it is not like the newspaper that is thrown on your lawn every week. Happiness must be nurtured, carefully.

There is “feral” happiness, in the ideal that things out of our control make us happy. Mayhap, it being a turn of events that happened to our pleasure, or something like that. However, the problem with this “feral” happiness, is that it's not steady. Meaning, that we are only happy now and a then. Besides, it being out of our control.

Artificial happiness. Have you ever seen a hydroponics farm? A perfect place for plants to grow. You can create a place like that. You just hide from the world think happy thoughts, and stick your head in the ground. While quite a reliable method, ignorance is bliss is not really the best policy, especially what you can't see will very well and most likely kill you.

So, how do you have happiness? To be honest, you cannot ever really be happy. Why? For the reason that happiness is based on your surroundings. Furthermore, the people we see around us, that seem happy, rarely are they happy.

However, while that might seem all depressing, it isn't. For the real truth is, you cannot rely on happiness. You have to rely on joy. Joy is not based on it's surroundings, but rather what someone chooses to have inside of them.

It's not easy. It's like a boat in a storm. However, it gets easier with practice. The first step really, is noting whether you are joyful. Followed by that, it's removing things that are hindering that joy. Sometimes, we cannot remove them, so you release them through an outlet. Some people sing it out, play it out with an instrument, or pat it out with a pet. (Patting pets is actually proven scientifically to relieve stress). Whatever you choose, things that hinders should be removed. For once removed, joy has a better chance of staying, and usually half of the battle is fought.

Being joyful is a choice, one that we must choose every day. While it might seem absurd. It is only as absurd, as not trying to be happy or joyful everyday. When we are joyful, we do things better, we are better people. Really we cannot afford to not be joyful beings. Although some fake it till they make it, sometimes, we have to come to grips why we are unhappy and face it down. It's hard, we may not feel like joy is anywhere remotely possible or right for the moment, but it is always. For when things are at it's darkest, the greatest opposite is needed to counteract.

A Quick Thought: Love Crime

 Just a quick thought, people say that love is a crime in places. When they say this, they refer to the gay agenda and same-sex-marriage not being allowed. However, while some countries might not allow same-sex-marriage. People are always free to love each other.

In fact, they are even allowed to carry on their relationship as they please, but they just aren't allowed to marry. So really, it's not very accurate that love is crime, because people can always love each other, no one can stop that. The only people who can stop love is ourselves.

Also, interestingly enough, Ambrose Bierce talks about love in which he describes it as: Love, a temporary insanity curable by marriage." So ironically, the countries that don't allow "love" to bloom, are really just preserving it. For as most people know, marriage, is usually when the kisses and flowers stop.