Here and There

What a dated, antiquated, and nearly irrelevant event the storming of the Bastille seems on this, its 217th anniversary. Sad.

The escalation of violence going on around the world reminds me of my world view. There are optimists, pessimists, and realists or pragmatists.

Optimists of course see at least the possibility of a positive outcome to events. Pessimists see gloom and doom, chaos and destruction, all things negative.

I’m somewhere in the middle.

If I pay no mind to everything I’ve been told, and employ instead what I’ve observed during my short time on earth, I see that some things work out, some don’t. Humans have some control over their destiny, but the rest of it is left to chance and things beyond our ability to shape.

This doesn’t mean all hope should be abandoned. It merely means we shouldn’t be surprised when things fall apart, or violence becomes a way and fact of life.

I touch on this now because I think we have a tendency to choose sides in conflicts like these. In the latest example (well, “latest” here is a misnomer: I should say in the present situation, that one that’s been unraveling since at least the 1940s), we seem to judge the parties by their tactics as well as their ideologies.

Most of us are made to feel we should ally ourselves with Israel, the modern version of which was established as compensation following the killing of over six million Jews in Europe. The tactics employed by groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are deplorable, we’re told. That one’s hard to argue with, of course.

But is it any less atrocious when violence is enacted as retribution on behalf of a state (in this case, the state of Israel)? I say no. No less egregious.

There are holes in the arguments of both sides. There are serious problems with the tactics of both sides. And this leads to a situation in which it’s hard to imagine a positive outcome. Both sides are self-righteous and resolute.

Maybe this is why I stayed out of diplomacy as a career. I can do my best to observe, to summarize. I just lack the creativity to develop a solution (and I suppose I’m not alone).

Yes, it’s cliché, but if I were to have a motto, it would be: “Hope for the best, expect the worst.”

Anyway, happy Bastille Day!

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