Last night I went on-line and booked a slot at the Bessemer Close recycling facility to deposit a couple of bags of garden waste from Clare's recent autumn clearance of dying vegetation. I was a bit slow getting started, but arrived there exactly at the allotted time. It drove from there to the big Tesco to get petrol, as I was running low. The low fuel gauge lit up just as I parked at the pump. There was a queue of cars at the tyre checking facility, so I decided to postpone that part of the procedure, and went to Aldi store nearby instead to buy some nuts and smoked fish.
On return, while Clare cooked lunch, I answered an email from by old friend Geoff Johnston, expressing his distress about the war in Israel/Palestine as it's being called. In replying I couldn't help but reflect on the history of antagonism and rivalry between Hebrew and Arab peoples going back three thousand years, spoken of in biblical stories about Israelite origins. The achievements, learning and culture of both societies in different ways has contributed immensely to human progress. The world is indebted to both, yet their wisdom and knowledge has yet to free both sides of recourse to violence in favour of peaceful co-existence. When will we ever learn the things that make for peace and security, which the whole world learns and lives by?
After lunch, Clare went out for her 'flu jab at the surgery. I'm booked for mine at the pharmacy this Friday. I had a prescription to collect, so I went out to the surgery a little later and collected my new wart bashing medication from the pharmacy, then went on to get some grocery extras on my way back before walking in the park, and having supper. Thinking outdoors gave me the germ of an idea for a biblical reflection on a line in John's Gospel about glorification. I spent an hour or so writing this down after supper, before watching the news reports about the massacres in Israeli border settlements by Hamas gunmen on the weekend. Gaza city is now being reduced to rubble by Israeli bombing.
There is no doubt in my mind that Palestinian Arab people have been subjected to terrible injustices since the establishment of the state of Israel, but there's an insanity about the perverted logic of Hamas arguments that their violence can succeed in doing anything other than bringing even worse violence on themselves and calling the outcome as success. Abuse of any kind results in the sickness of victims and unleashes even more evil. The devil's reasoning, with or without the metaphysics. How can this endless endless cycle of violence be broken is the question behind all the pain and anger on both sides of this conflict?
No comments:
Post a Comment