Seeing the images of war in Lebanon is a disturbing reminder of what can happen when we let things slide, sooner or later it gets out of hand and we get a catastrophe on our hands. The catalyst for the current war was a single soldier, now I don't think anybody even remembers his name already. The army has focused its crosshairs on Hezbollah, and will only stop with its complete annihilation. Or so we hope.
What does it take to end a conflict like that? Is it doomed to be a perpetual cycle of hate? All we hear everyday is another escalation, more people hurt, more blood spilled. Rockets bombard Northern Israel, or suicide bombers hit another market or bus or crowded street. Then Israel responds with bombings, and tanks roll into another town. While all this is happening, the UN sits in a meeting debating mere words to reach an agreement to send a peacekeeping force in.
I did a project on the cycle of violence in the Middle East in JC, think I got a B for it because none of those grading it could ever give a project on this subject an A. We see the violence and it makes our stomach turn. When both sides are right and wrong at the same time, who can we support? What would begin as a war to ensure the right to live, would end as a battle of those who are left behind from that war. If this cycle carries on, the inevitable last stroke would occur. That last escalation, which would mean unprecedented destruction. Who would make that last escalation? It doesn't matter, because nobody would be around to debate that anymore.
What can we do with such a dire situation in the Middle East? I no longer think anything can be done, we can only sit back and watch as basic humanity and rationality ends, while politics and irrational hate takes over.
