essaysbysean
“Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.” The ancient Greek poet Aeschylus, quoted from memory by Senator Robert Kennedy. (footnote)
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Somedays I can’t be bothered to be a spy: Like the staff from various embassies, I ate my breakfast at A&W, among real Canadians, but unlike the staff, I didn’t bother listening to whether folks at other tables were discussing the front page news.
Sunday morning news: Just as the US public had been outraged that their embassy in Libya, without enough marines, was overrun on the anniversary of 9/11, so too are outraged Israeli civilians asking how Hamas could blast through the Gaza Strip, without enough defences, right on the anniversary of the Yom Kipper war of 50 years ago.
I’ve met Palestinian students who were temporarily at my university; I’ve known colleagues who taught in the Gaza Strip; so when it comes to forming an opinion I know a little more than the average senior enjoying a breakfast of coffee and friendship.
As for opinions, the A&W stacks free copies of the Calgary Sun. Today there’s a short skinny coloured side story reporting what various Canadian leaders say. There’s a big news story on page four from the Associated Press… and that’s it for news. Outweighed by three big opinion columns and a big editorial headlined: Israel has the right to defend itself, an opinion that’s not news to working class Canadians.
I won’t tell my neighbours what to opine, only state what little I know. I was a pre-teen when a certain big white button was popular: Here Comes the Judge. I was a teenager when I read The Arab Israeli Reader, full of articles. I found that not only could the two cultures not agree on conclusions, they couldn’t even agree on the facts. This would have been in the 1970’s, about the time of the diversity movie Breaking Away. I liked that film where the teenage hero is racing his Italian ten-speed because he’s enthusiastic for Italy. Then he switches his ethnic enthusiasm when he meets a girl from France, and says “Bonjour Papa!” When I was a teen, before I too switched after meeting a girl from a different country, I had first met a local Jewish lady: Forget religion making people dull: She was sexy. Hence I was nerdy enough to peruse the Reader.
This year I won’t advise on peace, as they say (I forget) something like “a year is a lifetime in the Palestine” meaning: The issues and grudges and chances for peace change very fast. Also, a man on the web I respect enough to previously link to, a London philosopher and former resident of Israel, Vlad Vexler, said not to give credence to anyone who claimed he could explain the Middle East in just two minutes.
Question: Are we North Americans (including Canada) responsible for peace in the Middle East? Do they need our help? Easy to be arrogant, easy to claim that Israel and it’s neighbours magically have no universities, that they are magically dumber than us, but that would be a dumb thing to say. As I said, I’ve met post secondary students from the region. Their campus may not have a department of peace studies, as certain Canadian campuses do, but they certainly know something about peace. Call them motivated.
My answer, I hope, is more factual than opinion: “Not any more, not since US (and other western) experts offered them a Road Map For Peace, (2003)saying it was their last best chance.” As best I recall, we stressed “last chance,” to motivate them, while also telling them we would release ourselves from further responsibility. Maybe we were bluffing, lying, I don’t know… I’m only a senior citizen who doesn’t expect regular Canadians at the next breakfast table to remember.
I also “remember,” from reading, that when President John Kennedy was killed Americans quit stalling on his civil rights programs, even though the new president was a (non racist) southerner. And I remember that when a famously peace-loving Israeli leader—he had specific plans— was assassinated by an Israeli who didn’t want peace… none of his plans were pushed forward. In other words, his people allowed him to die in vain.
Without revealing my own belief, I can state that my respected colleagues who taught in Gaza all required therapy when they got back, partly from having been unable to walk a single block without seeing wounded children. One man said of the occupation with blazing contempt, “You cannot so much as plant an orange tree in your backyard without permission from the military.” That was in the late 20th century.
As I type here what little I know, I know that today I couldn’t even give away those once popular buttons: I certainly don’t expect my tired fellow Canadians to judge.
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Sean Crawford
October
Calgary
2023
Footnotes:
An analysis by Vlad includes an interesting vocabulary : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbPZ5m_WOYs
Israeli documentary: The Gatekeepers shows how six former directors of Israel’s internal security service—the Shin Bet—can criticize their politicians for failing to try for peace, without themselves being anti-Semitic. (anti-Jewish) See Calgary Sun column by Lorrie Goldstein, Thursday October 12, 2023.
TDLR (Too Long Didn’t Read) link to the Road Map:
Opinion:
Senator Robert (Bobby) Kennedy’s very informative essays, from his run for the presidency, are a treasure—Hence I HATE assassins, both here and in Israel. Had Robert lived, he would have removed US troops from South Vietnam, saving God-only-knows-how-many lives…
Kennedy’s speech that saved lives, with music, and 7,000 comments
