Get over it

This is my angry post.

I live here because I want to understand the details of this conflict. What is so darn special about these ancient sites, the history, this place, and why isn't there peace? Tackling these issues is awe-inspiring and completely exhausting. I'm trying to think of an analogy for how it makes me feel. Maybe like being on one of those booths with dollar bills flying around, and you're supposed to grab as many as you can. And sure, it probably feels great who you get a handful, but then you instantaneously realize that there is still soooo many bills to get, and there is no way you will get them all. It's both really rewarding, but you still leave knowing that you didn't get them all, and wishing you could have done better. Intellectually, that's how this place is. It can be addictive, because every issue leads you to 20 more sub-issues, and one can't help but become totally fascinated and overwhelmed.

That is...until, like the title of this blog, I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. It's like hearing 30 people yelling at you all at the same time, and there is no way to reconcile what they are saying. And then, I simply run out of stamina. My interest and compassion for all of the people and forces at work comes to a screeching, impulsive halt. My mind becomes overwhelmed and then my body, a feeling in my chest kicks in, and I just want to scream, "oh, why can't you all just get OVER it!?"

For whatever reason, this was my reaction after reading this article in the Times today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/world/middleeast/10jerusalem.html?pagewanted=1

It's about how the Jerusalem municipality is planning to essentially take over the city and usurp Palestinian land for historical park, all with the argument that there is archeologically-proven Jewish history on this land. It's been the center of Jewish life for 3000 years, and by God, we will keep it that way!

Puh-leeeaaasse. I understand preserving archeological remains for its own sake, but this ego, this "stake" that the Israeli conservatives have invested in this issue makes me sick. Peoples' lives, their homes, their land, their children's futures, their dignity are all put at stake because a minority of conservative, religious Israeli Jews just don't know how to share the sand box with the other kids in the class.

Sure, Jerusalem might have been the capitol of the Jewish nation way back when, but neither this land nor the Jewish people are the same as 2000 years ago. For a myriad of reasons not to be belittled (Holocaust, anti-semitism, etc) Jews are scattered all over the world now, and don't really have an interest in moving to the militaristic, rude, and arrid eretz yisrael.

A slew of quotes comes to mind that we often learn at a young age.."change is the only constant," "times they are a changin'," or yes, even the ever-faithful "sharing is caring." Hell, just go type in "change quotes" in google, and you realize that almost every great thinker in the history of the world has realized that change is not only a good thing, but inevitable.

It is time for Israel to get it's head out of the sandbox, graduate from kindergarten, and realize that nothing stays the same.