On this Day of Remembrance, I would like to say
thank you to those who have fought for this country, those who have lived for
it and those who have died for it.
Because I love this country and its people.
Love is hard to explain or justify. If I say I love
this country, it's not because I think everything about it is good.
When the US (where I grew up) was born, its society
was based partly on slave labor and upon the expropriation of the Native
Americans. Slavery was so deeply ingrained that those who tried to get it
outlawed at the great Constitutional Convention were defeated. It took almost
another century and a terrible civil war to do away with slavery, and even now
the damage and injustice to Native Americans and African Americans are not
spent.
Australia (where my spouse grew up) was founded upon
the expropriation and near-extermination of the Native Australians.
The olam she kulo tov -- the perfect world -- does
not exist anywhere on earth. But love does exist. It's even commanded and
demanded by the Holy One.
A strong and independent Israel, a place where
Hebrew culture can flower -- these things are not nothing. And this reality is
so very fragile, and it has grown out of so many people's love.
If we need to learn to share this country; if we
have a lot to fix -- there's also a lot to appreciate, a lot to live up to. We
remember; we yearn; we love.
2 comments:
ts
Debbie, as you know I deal with some pretty rough, depressing stuff - even this evening I had to deal with a nasty incident in the still militarily occupied area of the Shomron. Nevertheless, I agree with your sentiment that there is a lot to be thankful for and although there is a lot still to do Israel is an incredible achievement for the Jewish people that I too love. this is so despite my occasional anguish at what is done in its name. As long as there are people like you here - and there are many! - there is still hope that we can correct what needs to be corrected and move beyond our present malaise as a society.
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