Doing the Right Thing

Tonight, I attended a "rally" at my synagogue on behalf of the State of Israel. I'm definitely a strong supporter of Israel. I spent a year living there in the '90s. However, during the rally I started thinking about something.

I "know" that Israel is a moral nation and that they've been ruthlessly attacked. I "know" that Israel has the right to defend itself. Most importantly, I "know" that Israel has a natural and legal right to its land. However, I'm also very confident that if I ever had the chance to sit down with a supporter of Hezbollah they would say that they know that Israel is a ruthless nation bent on depriving Arabs and Muslims of their rightful land. Members of Hezbollah do not believe that they are doing evil. Indeed, they likely "know" that they are doing the right thing.

The problem is that what I "know" and what a member of Hezbollah "knows" cannot both be correct. It's impossible. The question is, how can both my knowledge and my Hezbollah counterpart's knowledge both exist simultaneously without leading to war?

I believe the answer is quite simple: neither the member of Hezbollah nor I has the right to physically hurt or physically threaten the other. As soon as one physically impedes on the other, the line has been crossed from appropriate to inappropriate behavior. Our relationship must be completely based on words.

Elementary teachers frequently tell their students that fighting is inappropriate. They explain that conflicts must be worked out with words, not with fists. Why is it that national leaders find it acceptable to act like six year olds who don't heed their teacher's call for words instead of fists? If only I knew.