Parent Speaks Out

I receive the online version of your publication as a parent of a current student. My usual response, as all good parents of college students is to be quiet and wear beige. However, I will violate my own rule and speak out just this once.

Reading and watching the news from and about Israel has been a difficult business, especially in the last few days. Danny Baram’s commentary brought reason and hope to an otherwise bleak scene.

As the cliche says, youth are our hope for the future. Danny’s insightful analysis demonstrates a deep understanding of the issues. His degree of candor and clarity in calling for a clear voice to be raised by the United States might only be possible by a young voice.

In any case, I wholly support his position. Events unfold as we are writing, and it is not possible to make rationale predictions about the coming days. However, my hope has been elevated in the knowledge that there are young adults who are thoughtful, informed and committed.

Danny, thanks for the wisdom.

But Jim Gallagher, what you have imagined is indeed a horrible nightmare. Except that it is mostly just that — a nightmare. You are allowing your imagination to be fueled by deliberate attempts to blur the facts. Factions you do not seem to understand, people with a different set of values and standards than you seem to hold, have been helping you expand your imagination. People who believe that the ends justify the means (yes, that old chilling phrase from the evil archives of World War II)have preyed upon your hopes for a better world, for kindness on the planet, by feeding you lies.

Get the facts straight. Study some history on the situation, not just the last 6 months, or six years but AT LEAST six decades. Clarify for yourself the gray areas between good and evil (was Sept. 11 justifiable in your mind?). When you are done, I hope you can at least understand no one wants to see Israel withdraw from the West Bank more than Israelis themselves. Golda Meir claimed that “We have lost the battle if we become like our enemies.”

Israelis are desperately struggling with maintaining their own humanity while protecting themselves. Make no mistake. Palestinian suicide bombers do not engage in that struggle and younger brothers are not just throwing rocks at tanks. (Apparently you missed the news film earlier this week where Israeli tank soldiers chose to ignore the rock throwing and verbal taunts of two teenage boys on the West Bank, only to lose their lives seconds later as a result of a bomb thrown at them by these same boys.)

Would that the world were as simple to divide into good and evil. As a representative in the College of Communication, I beg you to be sure the words you choose are based on fact not propaganda and that you filter what you read and hear through your obviously intelligent brain.