A prayer for peace

I started this blog because I love to crochet, and its a great way to share my love of crochet and some of the other happy things in my life. I'm generally not very outspoken about politics, yet I sit here in comfort and read the news of bombing and terror in Israel, and I literally feel sick.

While I feel that lately the US is a political mess, I'm glad that I live someplace where people have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It seems so simple, but I guess it's something that can't be taken for granted.

I read the news and I read blogs and I'm saddened and shocked by so much that I read. The bias and the misconceptions of what is happening. Yes - lives are being lost on both sides, and every life lost is a tragedy. How do a people fight against terrorism? How do you protect yourself from individuals who want to destroy you and who will strap bombs to their bodies in order to do so? So many people here are stating what Israel should and shouldn't do - as if there are any easy answers. There aren't. The situation is tragic.

What should Israel do? Israel should survive! Israel should protect her people and her right to exist. The fighting isn't over land - it's over something so much more important. We say that we value the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but we seem rather selfish in those values. The state of Israel has the right to exist. I also believe that the Palestinians have the rights to their own homeland and to live in peace. But when terrorists fight to deny another people the right to exist, how can there be peace?

I sit here in relative comfort. I crochet - for my friends, my family and for those who are in need. But what can I do for Israel? I can speak. I can pray. I can remember that while I sleep in a comfortable bed, Israelis and Palestinians are sleeping in bomb shelters.

I don't know how to achieve peace. I don't know the best way to end terrorism. One thing that I do believe though, is that all people should have the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and we all need to fight for that.