Evarysyn

Thursday, August 10, 2006

I've spoken to people this week, Singaporeans, who think Singapore is doing right by keeping so silent on the issue of Lebanon. I cannot credit that.

The argument for doing nothing stems from the fact that we are small, vulnerable; that our opinion would not make any difference on the world stage anyway and we would yet be in trouble afterward, when the war was won. That we cannot possibly know the situation on the ground over there, not being there ourselves, how can our our decisions have basis in the truth, be informed, be legitimate?

How can I possibly answer that? The fears are real, but how can those friends of mine not even see how sad it is to fear everything in that way? We have been touting Singapore as a hub for interfaith relations. How can we develop that if we sidestep the issue of the Middle East?

It will come up, you know. In any conversation between Muslims and Jews. It is too big an issue.

I was surfing, just now, and found anumber of quotes that struck home. I'll put a couple of them up, for they seem to espouse my arguments for standing up and saying what you think. Silence may seem like tolerance, but if you talk it out, arge, you are more likely to come to a conclusion!

K here goes:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

ATTRIBUTION:

THEODORE ROOSEVELT, address at the Sorbonne, Paris, France, April 23, 1910

And

Come! Let us lay a lance in rest, And tilt at windmills under a wild sky! For who would live so petty and unblest That dare not tilt at something ere he die; Rather than, screened by safe majority, Preserve his little life to little end, And never raise a rebel cry!
ATTRIBUTION:	JOHN GALSWORTHY, “Errantry,” stanza 1,

The people who go down in history as great are the ones who TRY. Not hide, as we are doing. You don't have friends you hide yourself from, those are just people you know.

And it is your friends that will help you, not the "people you know"...not many people are that open hearted and generous.

I understand that Singapore owes a lot to Israel for helping set up our defence forces. But. If they are truly our friends why do I (and, apparently, most Singaporeans) not know one single Jew? I would like to meet one. To be friends. You cannot effectively hate an entity when one of its members are your friends... But the only Jews I've spoken to are in Israel or Ameria, and that over the forums. Difficult...

And if we are friends then we should help them, shouldn't we? Israel seems to be squandering any goodwill and sympathy it had accumulated over the years much like the US did after 911. Should we not take a stand against the war and killing and ask them to stop like everyone else? Say we would help with crossborder talks to disarm Hizbollah - it would be a mistake to assume they are simply Islamic terrorists - Hizbollah was born as a reaction to the Israeli OCCUPATION in 1982.

(Eg. Of the 41 suicide bombers sent out to fight in the resistance to Israeli occupation from 1982 to 1986, personal data for 38 was determined by researchers from the Guardian who were shocked to find that only eight were Islamic fundamentalists; 27 were from leftist political groups such as the Lebanese Communist Party and the Arab Socialist Union; three were Christians, including a female secondary school teacher with a college degree. All were born in Lebanon.)

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1838214,00.html]

Come on. What they want is hardly wrong. Freedom from occupation, personal liberty, the ability to govern their own country? Isn't that what Israel wanted too? Only it is going too far in its "pre emptive strike" deal... You don't diminish tha recruiment base for such an organization by providing it with more matyrs! Jeez...I think Olmert must have suffered a blow to the head that addled his brains when he made the decision to invade. Can't see any intelligent logical lawyerly brain making that decision in full possession of his wits and even a minimal amount of background knowledge...

But I have to bid for modules now so...

Ta,
Eve

Yet another ring on the tree at12:17 PM

Evarysyn

This is MY blog. But you can read it.

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Evarysyn

This is *MY* blog. But you can read it.

0 Comments:

This is MY blog. But you can read it.