Ugh. Sometimes I just read things that make me livid. Mike Kelly, a staff writer for the Bergen Record (our county's daily paper) is doing a series of articles about "Turning Times in the Holy Land." So completely biased. If his next article isn't better, I am completely submitted an op-ed piece. If you're going to write an informative newspaper article, you should write about both perspectives. Yes, I admit, he did talk about thing from the Palestinian viewpoint for about 3 short paragraphs, but really now... He talks about how The Wall makes people walk more, and makes people help eachother. The example he cited was a a cab driver who helped a women carry a stroller over a pile of rubble. My question is why is she doing that in the first place? "The wall is a great leveler," says Mr. Kelly. Yeah, uh hu. You know what else has to get lifted over piles of rubble? Stretcher on their ways to hospitals from ambulances that cannot make it through the checkpoints. He also failed to mention the tear gas and the fact that parts of The Wall do not separate Palestinaian land from Israeli land, but rather Palestinian land from Palestinian land. Ugh, the more I reread this article, the more enraged I get. And I quote, "'The whole reason I moved here is I believe this is the place where Jews belong,' Buckman said. 'I don't believe we occupy the West Bank. It's ours. It would be nice if we could live with the Palestinians, but they insist on killing us.'" I'm not even going to get into the debate over whether the Jewish people have the right to be there by mandate of God, but just a few points... (1) If you're really going to follow that text, then you should be taking over a lot more land, (2) "killing us" - there have been many tragic, and unwarrented murders of people living in Israeli, and I am not trying to explain those away, but once again, can we discuss palestinian children getting stoned on their way to school by israeli children as their parents watched? Love thy neighbor... right? That really does need to be applied on both sides, but I think we can all agree that two wrongs don't make a right. Don't teach children to hate.

Okay, okay, I'm going to stop preaching now. But I swear, I am going to end up writing a letter to the editor, or leaving comments all over Mike Kelly's blog... Excuse the wrath....

Some spring break reflections:
1. Being home is nice.
2. Home cooked food is yummy.
3. Sleeping in your own bed is nice and yummy.
4. I've started listening to classical music while I drive... interesting. I don't know what to make of that yet.
5. After watching a good amount of FSC (fox soccer channel) I have a couple of conclusions:
-- I miss playing proper outdoor soccer on a big field with 11 players and soccer cleats
-- I would go to europe just to watch a pro-football game there
-- european footballers are nice to look at... actually, the majority of footballers worldwide are pretty nice to look at
6. I want more time at home.

How many innocents must die? How many children and mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters must be killed before people have decided that they have proved their point?

After comming back from Palestine, I was aghast at all of the atrocities that the Palestinian people have to endure. People being chased down in the streets, children getting stoned and shot at on their way to school. For the past two months, Gaza has been completley closed in, isolated from the outside world with no way to keep their economy active, or even to get enough foodstuffs to sustain life. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/international/middleeast/21mideast.html?ex=1143608400&en=c2d93b436f2a2c8a&ei=5070&emc=eta1

As I watched Israeli soilders in disbelief, I then thought of how American soilders must be viewed by the Iraqis and other people of the middle east. A week ago was the third anniversary of the US' involvement in Iraq. Three years. And a week ago was the largest bombing run since the beginning of "Gulf War II." And five months ago was the slaughter of 15 Iraqi civilians, specifically five men, seven women, and three children. Imagine waking up from a loud explosion and then watching your grandfather, grandmother, dad, mom, and siblings getting shot point blank. Well thats what Eman saw happen the morning of nov 19th, 2005. Maybe this is just me, but a 9 year old should not have to witness that... no one should. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1174682,00.html

As I rail on these two governments and armies, let us not forgot the people on the other side... the innocent Israelis killed by suicide bombings and the american families that have lost loved ones. After reading some of these articlies, I just get so disgusted, and saddened, at all of the injustice and hate that's present in our world. A great man once said all you need is love... and to quote from various places...

You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
JUDAISM: Leviticus 19.18

Treat others as thou wouldst be treated by thyself.
SIKHISM: Adi Grandth

Desire not for anyone the things that ye would not desire for
yourselves.
BAHÁ'Í FAITH: Gleanings 66

That nature is only good when it shall not do unto another whatever is
not good for its own self.
ZOROASTRIANISM: Dadistan-i-Dinik

The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
CHRISTIANITY: Mark 12.31

Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he
loves for himself.
ISLAM: Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi

Hurt not others with that which pains yourself.
BUDDHISM: Udana 5.13

Regard your Neighbour's gain as your own gain and your neighbour's
loss as your own loss.
TAOISM:T'ai Shang Kan Ying P'ien

Never do to others what would pain thyself.
HINDUISM: Panchatantra 3.104

Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.
CONFUCIANISM: Analects 15.23

Times, they are changing
So it's been about a month since I last posted. I can't believe that it's already halfway through the semester, yet looking at my last post, it seems like that was such a long time ago. Time is relative like that I guess.
The semester is in full swing with classes and clubs and jobs, etc. Classes are generally good, except my engineering psych classes are getting very repetitive, I guess that what happens when you have the same teacher for 6 hours of class a week. Physics is sorta fun, it's tough, but I like math. The one class that I really love is my Introduction to New Testament that I took on a whim. Even though I have been a "practicing Christian" for the past 4 years or so, I can't believe how much I did not know. At least in terms of the history behind the Bible. I never know that Paul never met Jesus, or that most scholars agree that the books of Timothy and Titus were not actually written by Paul. The class has definitely opened my eyes is so many ways. It has also made me question many things that I previously just accepted as truth.
(to be continued...)