Thomas Paine said, “Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.” It seems that ALL parties to the problems in the Mideast ignorantly submit to the dictates of a few madmen. Statesmen like Sadat and Begin are senselessly slaughtered while dictators in Libya, Iraq, North Korea and elsewhere luxuriate in the pain and suffering of their own people.

All of these students who wrote about the Arab Israeli conflict are right; and they are all wrong. They are all driven by the passionate exuberance of their youth instead of seeking a reasonable solution to their disagreements.

We must first seek a way to quell the fires of passion that burn so deeply in all parties. Arab, and Israeli, Muslim, Jew, and Christian must look to the common roots of peace and love that define all their faiths. We must use those common roots to bring all the warring parties together and condemn all who would use their faith as a tool of destruction.

“Passion governs, and she never governs wisely.” Benjamin Franklin said. If we channel our passions and unleash wisdom and reason we may find a peaceful soluton to these problems rather than face the unnecessary Armageddon that misguided passion will lead to.

Steven Eskow Parent Of Josh CAS’05 USNROTC