Paul - again, your words are like a long drink of water in a sheltered enclave in a sandstorm. Some of us can’t write like this - but we think like this - and our hearts and brains hurt with the effort of processing this tangled and bleak situation. You’ve done so much to bring light and relief to us powerless witnesses of one of the greatest travesties of our lifetimes. Thank you.
your comment truly moved me - not just because it was generous, but because it was exact. That feeling of mental and moral exhaustion in the face of distortion is something I know well, and I suspect more people feel it than are willing to admit.
If what I wrote helped to cut through even a bit of that fog, then it did its job. We may not hold levers of power, but we’re not entirely powerless either. Clarity - hard-won, undramatic, unsentimental - is a kind of resistance in itself.
Thank you for reading with such attention, and for thinking aloud in good faith. That’s rarer than it should be.
This was really sharp, wise, measured and it pierced all the fog of delusion, ignorance and hatred that usually clouds this issue by simply applying bracing doses of clarity and reality.
Thank you for saying what should be obvious but is buried as deep as a Hamas-tunnel: rights come with obligations, and responsibilities. Eloquently put and well articulated.
First, agree on the three adult terms listed, for a two-state solution.
Second, the only absolute and undisputable certainty in this shameful and almost centenarian conundrum is that things cannot remain as they are.
Change is mandatory, urgent.
What kind of change? I could not care less. Those responsible for the current tragedy shall sit down, behave like adults, and agree on adult terms for change.
thanks for engaging - truly. I sense the urgency in your words, and I share your frustration with the status quo. But I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure what you’re arguing for.
You say “change is mandatory,” which I wouldn’t dispute - but then add, “I could not care less what kind of change,” which raises more questions than it answers. That phrase alone seems to place you outside the very conversation I’m trying to invite people into.
The crux of the article - and especially the Postscriptum - is precisely about the nature of change: not just that something must shift, but that the terms of that shift matter. Without clarity, we risk recycling the same illusions that got us here in the first place.
If you believe the three “adult terms” I proposed make sense - or if you have better ones - I’d love to hear your thoughts. But if we’re going to call for change, we should care quite a lot about what exactly is being changed, and on whose terms. Otherwise, we’re just handing the wheel back to those who drove us into the wall.
On your doubt and suspicion about my desperate rejection of the status quo. When I say that I could not care less what kind of change can or should come, I want to emphasize this desperate call - stop doing what is being done.
Reiterating the call for action: the adults responsible for these macabre and dark times of mankind should sit together, talk it over in adult terms, and find an alternative.
Find an alternative! To stop doing what these adults are doing. And undoing.
Paul - again, your words are like a long drink of water in a sheltered enclave in a sandstorm. Some of us can’t write like this - but we think like this - and our hearts and brains hurt with the effort of processing this tangled and bleak situation. You’ve done so much to bring light and relief to us powerless witnesses of one of the greatest travesties of our lifetimes. Thank you.
Betty,
your comment truly moved me - not just because it was generous, but because it was exact. That feeling of mental and moral exhaustion in the face of distortion is something I know well, and I suspect more people feel it than are willing to admit.
If what I wrote helped to cut through even a bit of that fog, then it did its job. We may not hold levers of power, but we’re not entirely powerless either. Clarity - hard-won, undramatic, unsentimental - is a kind of resistance in itself.
Thank you for reading with such attention, and for thinking aloud in good faith. That’s rarer than it should be.
Warmly,
Paul
This was really sharp, wise, measured and it pierced all the fog of delusion, ignorance and hatred that usually clouds this issue by simply applying bracing doses of clarity and reality.
You would have made a terrible politician! ;)
Thank you for saying what should be obvious but is buried as deep as a Hamas-tunnel: rights come with obligations, and responsibilities. Eloquently put and well articulated.
Thanks for the truth! ❤️
First, agree on the three adult terms listed, for a two-state solution.
Second, the only absolute and undisputable certainty in this shameful and almost centenarian conundrum is that things cannot remain as they are.
Change is mandatory, urgent.
What kind of change? I could not care less. Those responsible for the current tragedy shall sit down, behave like adults, and agree on adult terms for change.
Repeat: change is mandatory. NOW.
Paulo,
thanks for engaging - truly. I sense the urgency in your words, and I share your frustration with the status quo. But I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure what you’re arguing for.
You say “change is mandatory,” which I wouldn’t dispute - but then add, “I could not care less what kind of change,” which raises more questions than it answers. That phrase alone seems to place you outside the very conversation I’m trying to invite people into.
The crux of the article - and especially the Postscriptum - is precisely about the nature of change: not just that something must shift, but that the terms of that shift matter. Without clarity, we risk recycling the same illusions that got us here in the first place.
If you believe the three “adult terms” I proposed make sense - or if you have better ones - I’d love to hear your thoughts. But if we’re going to call for change, we should care quite a lot about what exactly is being changed, and on whose terms. Otherwise, we’re just handing the wheel back to those who drove us into the wall.
Warmly,
Paul
Thanks for your kind reply.
Not much to add.
On your doubt and suspicion about my desperate rejection of the status quo. When I say that I could not care less what kind of change can or should come, I want to emphasize this desperate call - stop doing what is being done.
Reiterating the call for action: the adults responsible for these macabre and dark times of mankind should sit together, talk it over in adult terms, and find an alternative.
Find an alternative! To stop doing what these adults are doing. And undoing.
Best regards.