Human understanding

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Four Palestinian toddlers were killed this week.

Instead of focusing on the question of whether or not the deaths were accidental (some certainly were) and instead of asking ourselves who bears ultimate responsibility for their deaths, let's just remember the spasm of grief that enveloped lsrael last week following the discovery of the dead teenagers. Remember how much that hurt? Is it possible the Palestinians are experiencing similar despair over the death of these four toddlers, and the 11 other children killed last week and the 3 children killed during the search for the boys and the 1500 children killed dating back to 2001?

I'm ready to stipulate that each and every one of those deaths was "legitimate." All 1500. The circumstances of those deaths isn't the point. And I assure you I am not trying to portray the IDF as monsters or child killers or to suggest they didn't do every thing they could to avoid killing those 1500 kids. That's not what this is about. I'm just asking you to remember what it feels like when a kid dies. Remember what it made you think. What it made you say. Think what you would do if there was no IDF to keep your fingernails clean and three of our kids were kidnapped and murdered every few weeks. You'd go a little crazy right? That's all I'm saying. You'd go a little crazy. I know I would...

PS This isn't an argument against the war. You can be for the war and still feel grief or understand the grief of others when children die. Also, I am not trying to provide justifications for Hamas atrocities. I am only trying to provide a route to human understanding.

HERE ARE SOME COMMENTS FROM PEOPLE WHO PERFECTLY UNDERSTOOD THE POST
#1 I think this post is encouraging us to keep our hearts open to all of our emotions. Yes, this war is necessary. But the deaths of innocent children is sad as well. We don't have to choose one emotion over another. There is no blame to he placed on the IDF.. They are heroes and doing their best to protect our beloved Israel. This post is a wake up call to be mindful of being aware of the suffering that all human beings share and not automatically deny those feelings in order to "feel right". Thank you for this post. I have been very sad and agitated these past weeks over the sadness and grief and pain I am feeling by the situation in Israel which I love so much. This reminded me to fully experience every emotion involved in times of war without shutting them down

#2 "The Israeli government needs to use all means necessary to prevent rockets from raining down on our country including waging war on enemies who try to bring about our destruction; but that doesn't mean we can't mourn the loss caused by those actions. Those positions cannot be and should not be mutually exclusive. We should all cry when we hear of God's creations being destroyed.

Post by Dov Bear.

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