Earlier this month in a “rampage in a West Bank settlement,” a Palestinian man, Moussa Tayet, killed an Israeli child and injured another. The murderer confessed and even turned in the knife used, but that doesn’t seem to change much. An innocent child is still dead, and a family will never be the same. After the attack, a Palestinian group falsely claimed responsibility, as if they were proud, as if they would have been happy if it was their killing. The killing was premeditative, as an article in the Chicago Times said, and Tayet said it was religiously motivated. I don’t know any religion that would say to kill an innocent child, and although I am not religious, it insults me that people try to misinterpret religion to justify killing.

Although the murder occurred the day after Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's new Prime Minister, took office, his foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said “there is no reason to begin negotiations on a final peace accord with the Palestinians” because they “shouldn't be freed from their obligations”. But why? Tayet should not be vindicated from his responsibility for murdering a 13 year old boy, but in order to stop the killings to come, some sort of peace must be reached. The Middle East’s violence is not going to stop unless proactive measures are taken. Just like any other war, there will not be change unless both sides are willing to work together. This is clearly more easily said than done, but unless people and countries are willing to try, peace remains a distant thought, an idea of what the world could be like, an image that doesn’t seem real. A proverb says that “he who sweats more in peace, bleeds less in war.” If we are not willing to work for peace, then we should be expecting war. Peace is not something that happens on a whim, but it seems like war is. We know war is bad; we know it is so bad that we aren’t even willing to admit it. With numerous US wars in our history, an actual declaration of war has sparsely been made. We are currently in a “War on Terror,” but technically, it is not a war. To put an end to war, we must first be willing to end it.

War, what is it good for? If innocent children are being killed and countries aren’t even trying to resolve their problems, then absolutely nothing.

The effects of the holocaust and World War II are not completely gone… yet

An article titled Tattoos from Auschwitz Horror Reunite Lost Inmates tells the story of four men who suffered through the holocaust, never knowing or talking to each other, reunited. Not only were these men together at Auschwitz, but they were together in line, with consecutive serial number tattoos. These men, once treated as sub-human, have become men, not serial numbers, to hundreds of thousands of people who are now going to hear their story. Holocaust deniers can say what they want, but these men are no longer B-14594, B-14595, B-14596, and B-14597. These men are Menachem Sholowicz, Anshel Sieradzki Shaul Zawadzki, and Yaakov Zawadzki. People said “never again,” we need to say not now? Genocide is a war that needs to be fought. These men are around the age of 80 now, and they are not the only living survivors, but soon there will be no one left. There will be no more survivors to prove the effects of the holocaust, and there will be not survivors left to tell their story. This genocide could become a thing of the past, a history lesson that we read about in our text books, a thing thought about that seems almost unrealistic. Unfortunately, genocide is not going to be a thing of the past. There are still people dying from genocide, from war, in Darfur. This cycle of war and killing needs to stop before the world can know peace. We will not be silent. It is within our control to stop genocide. These men are real examples of what war can do to people, and it needs to end here.

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace” –Jimi Hendrix

A War or Not a War?...It Doesn't Really Matter

The definition of war is definitely debatable, and while some people think that war is sometimes necessary, one type of “war” is never necessary: genocide. To me, war is people dying unnecessarily or as a result of others’ mistakes. Genocide, which may not be classified as a war, is definitely an unnecessary killing because of and supported by a lot of mistakes. This weekend I went to a Darfur Rally downtown. It was cold and rainy, which was probably why the turnout was good, not great, but what a speaker said made a big impact on me. He was a Lost Boy of Sudan, and said that he was not sorry it was raining, because the rain is the tears of the refugees in Darfur.

Not everyone may agree that this is an example of a war, and it may not be, but considering the facts, it should be treated like a one-sided war. First of all, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was recently indicted on war crimes by the International Criminal Court. 400,000 people have died in Darfur, and too many are in refugee camps in Chad and other places. Sudan does everything in its power to stop outside help, but should that stop us? Several aid groups from Sudan were forced out of the country by al-Bashir during a meningitis outbreak. Just because Sudan is saying jump does not mean that we need to say how high, or even jump at all. If we cannot even help to stop this obvious genocide, how can we ever expect to have peace?

At the rally there was a man handing out fliers. I took one, assuming that it was information on Darfur, and didn’t look over it until later. Before I read it, my friend said that the guy was talking to people, and once again I assumed it was about Darfur. Once again I was wrong. This man was preaching that we need to destroy Israel’s government by “non-violent” measures. He said he was a pacifist and against any group that makes war, and he stood there with the diluted idea that destroying a country by any means is anti violence. He went on to describe how it was Israel’s fault that countries across the world had gun problems and war, and other similar statements that were equally as ridiculous.

Luckily, every time he preached there were people there who argued with him. At one point I asked him how he could think that he was a pacifist when he handed out papers with swastikas on it. He spurred off a mumbled response and changed the subject. With this amount of hate in the world, it’s hard to see peace in sight, but it needs to start somewhere, and ending this genocide and standing up to people like this man is a good start.

This article talks about how Sudan has tried to keep aid out of the country.

Does the poor's health not matter?

A recent article from the Chicago Tribune portrayed the flaws in health care system. “Indigent and under-insured patients” were sent to Cook County's Stroger Hospital after not getting treated fully at other non-profit hospitals. Some of these patients came to the ER at Stroger's with discharge slips and prescriptions from the non-profit hospitals. People with broken jaws and tumors were sent with discharge slips saying to go to a Cook County Hospital, as well as a woman who came with one saying to get a follow up on a uterine tumor surgery. This hospital that is trying to help people without insurance is being overloaded with patients, and in this economy resources are scarce. It’s hard enough not being able to afford health insurance, but then being turned away from hospitals after major surgery, or with broken bones or tumors just seems ridiculous. Universal Health care definitely has its ups and downs, but things like this make it seem pretty good. Privilege entitles people to a lot of things because of status and resources, but that doesn’t mean that others should be left behind. A lot of things in life come at a price, but for health care it doesn’t seem right. In class we read "Being Poor." Being poor isn't a choice, it isn't because some people work less hard, it is a situation that is difficult to get out of, and people’s health should not be penalized. People are too quick to judge, and too slow to put themselves in other people's shoes. Not having insurance can be a scary thing, and fear of not getting any medical attention should not even have to be a thought.