Received an email from a friend – thoughts to share – thus to my
friend thank you for the courage to share – c
Twice a week I have the great privilege of driving along the
western shore of the Sea of Galilee on my way to work. At 7:30 in
the morning the sun sits above the Golan Heights and shines down like a spot
light on the lake. There are usually some fishing boats out on the water,
and not many cars on the road. The last two days the mornings have
been hazy, so the light from the sun is refracted into separate beams
which then merge into one giant silver "spot" on the surface of the
water. It was breathtaking.
Normally this this sight fills me with tranquility and joy.
Yesterday and today, however, all I could think about was that here it was so
quietly beautiful, and yet just a few kilometers away people were
butchering each other. It has been this way for more than two years
now across the border in Syria. What made yesterday so wrenching for me
was that the 6 a.m. news had broken the report of Assad's latest chemical
attack on his citizens.
According to the report already on Wednesday morning, at least
1,300 people were known to be dead so far. Pictures coming
out of Syria were showing rows upon rows of dead children with blue lips, young
men writhing uncontrollably, doctors trying to do what they could with no
facilities and no supplies. And all the while in the background you could
hear the wailing of the mothers. Later reports stated that entire families
were destroyed, entire neighborhoods wiped out.
What was the response of world leaders? Oh this is
terrible. Oh, it must be condemned. Oh, the United Nations should
investigate. Never mind that this is not the first time that chemical
weapons have been used. Never mind that only this week did UN
inspectors come to investigate "alleged use of chemical weapons",
attacks which happened 6 months ago. Never mind that the UN inspectors
can only leave the hotel if accompanied by a Syrian government official.
Never mind that so far no official has been sent to the hotel.
The words from a song in the musical "1776" keep going
through my mind:
"They piddle, twiddle, and resolve. Non one d--m thing
do they solve. Piddle, twiddle and resolve. Nothing is ever
solved."
In the 1930s when Hitler's agenda became more and more
apparent, the responses of most European and American leaders were not
much different than those now. More than 50 million people lost
their lives in WW II.
The gas being used in Syria today was originally developed in Nazi
laboratories. It's use was later perfected by Sadam Hussein in Iraq and
in Syria by the father of the current Assad. The proclivity to gas
children must run in the family. In addition to the reserves already in Syria,
many of Saddam's stores were moved to Syria towards the end of his
regime. Israeli military sources estimate that Syria has tons of
chemicals ready to be used.
The Nazis developed several types of chemical weapons. They
experimented to see which were the most effective in which kinds of
situations. They perfected their technology. I have seen the marks
scratched in the cement walls and floors and ceilings by the victims of this
technology. I have seen the marks in rooms in Majdanek and Auschwitz and
Ravensbruk and Sachsenhousen and Dachau. I have seen what is left
of Chelmo and Belzec and Trablinka and Sobibor, where not just entire families,
but entire towns were killed by chemical weapons. These places are
not talked about as much simply because there were literally just a handful of
survivors left to bear witness. With generations of a family murdered,
and no neighbors left, who is going to tell the world?
I have walked the grounds of Chelmo, Poland where the
use of poisonous gas was first experimented with on a large scale, and where
portable gas chambers in trucks were first used. I have walked the
grounds of the concentration camps in downtown Belgrade where Serbian Jews
served as the targets of experiments for the Nazis to perfect the
use of both poison gasses and portable gassing trucks. I have read the
Nazi mechanics' and engineers' reports about how to improve the efficacy
of the trucks by making the dispersal of the gas more efficient, and which
types of gas were best. The diligence of Nazi engineers benefitted
Sadam Hussein a generation ago and benefits the Assad regime today.
And what are world leaders doing? They piddle, twiddle and
resolve. Nothing's ever solved.
If two years ago the world had supported those in Syria fighting
for more freedom, perhaps the situation would not be what it is today.
Hundreds of children and women and their fathers and brothers and grandparents
would not have known the agony of death my poisonous chemicals. Over
100,000 people would not have been killed. Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and
Iraq would not have to be caring for the millions of refugees who have fled
Syria and crossed into their territory.
Al Qaida and Islamic Jihad fighters would not control most of the
Syrian towns which border with Israel. Many Syrian civilians would not be
subject to daily public floggings under the Sharia'a law which came
with the foreign "Islamist" (how I hate that word)
rebels. The coming winter would not bring with it the threat
of starvation for millions or death from the cold.
My heart weeps. After thousands of years, why is it still so
easy for us as people to continue to destroy each other?
And yet, despite the evil, there are still people in the world who
are genuinely good and who go about doing good because of that.
I think of all of those from LDS Charities and other
organizations who continue to give so much of their time and service and means
to help relieve the suffering of the refugees. I respect those who
contribute to the Church's Humanitarian fund so that the means are there to
use. I applaud LDS Charities for their part in getting tens of thousands
of refugee children in Jordan vaccinated. I praise the Israeli army
doctors, nurses and medics who day and night treat Syrian victims of war at the
field hospital the Israeli army set up near the Syrian border, and the staffs
of the Sfat and Nahariya hospitals in Israel who continue to treat the
most severely wounded. What all of these people are doing is
light in the great darkness. All of these individuals are light the
separate beams of light which broke through the clouds this morning and joined
together to bring light to the surface of the water.
May each of us also bring light to those around us in whatever way
we can.
Israel
“Light
and Darkness”
cji
8/23/13
Looking
to my right is light
to the
left is found darkness
first
the Sea of Galilee at dawn
then
hear the screams of Syria
thousands
dying from gas
while
world leaders sit idle
China
and Russia at play
always
to embrace warfare
anywhere
and everywhere
putting
forth resources each
light
and darkness to teach
misery
and death to share
claiming
all in hatred fair
making
others to blankly stare
pretending
their stand idyll
ignoring
the screams of Syria
presenting
beauty of dawn
picturing
useless starkness
wanting
all to see the light!
Copyright © 2013 – cji
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