I Guess Israel Really Means Business

I read this blog from someone this morning that I think everybody should read. There are actually two of them. The first one is about an American living in Egypt that had her laptop shot three times by Israeli soldiers while on vacation in Israel. They shot it because they thought it was threatening. And from what she said as to her situation, the items she had, and the answers to their questions, I understand why they did think a bomb might be in her laptop. At least I understand it from the point of view of the kind of world the Israelis live in. She was behaving like a dumb tourist, and it's a shame that being a dumb tourist could lead to her laptop getting shot up. Living in America, the whole idea of that is so alien to me. Reading her blog makes me very sad. And it's not just the blogs but the comments. I think it could be prophetic as to where this country might have gone and might still go as a reaction to our policies in the world. Here are the two blogs and please read the comments too:

http://lilysussman.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/im-sorry-but-we-blew-up-your-laptop-welcome-to-israel/

http://lilysussman.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/beyond-the-laptop/

I don't normally feel the need to comment on the blogs I read. I do every once in awhile, and I really felt like commenting on the last one. Here is what I wrote:

I've been following all the comments between the two blogs concerning the blown up laptop. I find it interesting how a destroyed laptop could bring so much to the surface. It's very sad to see two groups of people with so much to offer the world so lost in hate. I remember going into the electronics store right after 9-11 and wanting to beat the crap out of every possible Muslim/Arab I saw. Of course I understood those feelings as completely irrational, and they faded within a few weeks. I can only imagine living in a country where the people I was living right next to could harm me just because of where I'm from, something I couldn't change. It's like if people from Nevada started blowing up people from California just because we're Californian. If that happened and happened with regularity, I'm sure I might feel the same as an Arab or Israeli. It's why I say both groups of people are lost in hate. Mistakes were made in the past. There doesn't seem much point to discussing what those are. They're just distractions that make it easier to hold onto the hate that I'm sure has become dear to both Arab and Jew. And, I'm sure losing that hate would feel like a broken heart.

I'm not offering any kind of a solution here to the problem or morally condemning anybody. It just makes me very sad. And here in America I think we need to be very careful that we don't get lost again in the same kind of hate as the Arab and Israeli. It's taken us a hundred years to even begin to awaken from the kind of hate that my people have had for one another. And I'm not saying that every Arab hates or every Jew hates. Someday the number of people that don't hate will outnumber the ones that do. I think once people take the time to get to know one another either by choice or circumstance is when those numbers begin to turn. That's how it's been happening here I think.

 Anyway, these are just my thoughts on the subject. I hope the road ya'll are on isn't as long as the one we're on, and I hope both peoples will still be around to see it.