Why Israel Feels  So Threatened In a powerful Op-Ed piece in the NYT Benny Morris, does a wonderful job of describing the vulnerability and fear that Israelis feel in their 60 year old state.   Morris’s article helped me to own up to my arrogance in the blog I wrote about Israel’s victimization. I Was Arrogant  Toward Israel In My Last Blog I indulged in talking down to the state of Israel.  In truth, I am yearning desperately for the killing on both sides to stop.   I directed my remarks to Israel, rather than to Hamas, because I see Israelis as having more capacity to effect change in this situation. These opponents are not evenly matched.  The majority of Palestinians in Gaza are starving.  Perhaps I underestimate the power of Hamas to make rational choices in the current circumstances.  I-P Conflict is About Human Needs and Feelings The key word in Morris’s column is feels.  Israel has the 5th largest Army in the world.  Two peoples are fighting over feelings and perceptions. These needs are so important to Jews and Palestinians they are willing to die for them, and yet they are so passionate they are unable to communicate the depth of their importance to the other side with any coherence.                                                                                                     Stories About Meaning of Trauma Fuel Violence Both peoples hold themselves as victims.  Both were hurt by traumas in the past. Those hurts are held in several ways: physical wounds, emotional experiences, but most importantly, in interpretations (i.e.

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Weighing the Lessons of Love What does love have to do with it? Everything!  If I want to live in a peaceful world I have learned that I have to be loving-everywhere, every place, with everyone.    I’ve been weighing the lessons of love this month when so much has gone on in my life, from the marriage of my nephew to miracles of reconciliation with my family, from the sudden death of a beloved sister, to saying no to a man who wanted to love me. What is This Thing Called Love? What is love? Why do all people, even hardened killers, dream about love? Why do so many people despair of ever finding love and kill themselves when they don’t? Who knows how many human conflicts are rooted in the desire to be affirmed, seen and honored, a hunger that would be immediately sated in the presence of love.  To be treated with kindness and tenderness is, I believe, a universal yearning, counterbalanced by one thing-a great fear of the vulnerability that comes when we are undefended and open to hurt as we were at some point in our past.                                                                                                                                                                   A Wordless Yet Full Emptiness Love, I have discovered is spaciousness, a simple emptiness and fullness at the same time.  I sit and watch the rains of Seattle fall on the tall pines outside my windows.

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President Bush had one of his rare press conferences on Monday, March 21st and during it, something very interesting happened. Veteran journalist Helen Thomas asked the President a question many Americans have been longing to hear: “Why did you really go to war? . . . What was your real reason?” You could hear the gasps in the room from the audaciousness of her question.

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